


A Different Life (Alternate Timeline)

by suluismyspirit



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Abuse, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Fluff, M/M, Mild Language, Rape, Rape Recovery, Rape/Non-con Elements, Trust Issues, mildly explicit language?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2019-04-28 00:49:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 19
Words: 34,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14437875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suluismyspirit/pseuds/suluismyspirit
Summary: The fic in which Sulu finds out the hard way that no matter how many laws change, sometimes people don’t.This is an alternate time line to my fic "A Different Life." The two stories are the same up until chapter 9, so I've left out the first 8 chapters for this story. You can find them here:https://archiveofourown.org/works/11010387/chapters/24531633





	1. Broken

It was nearing two years since Chekov had been reassigned, and about a year since Sulu had stopped replying all-together. He regretted stopping all contact, but after the Bonding with his Alpha, he couldn’t bring himself to try and speak with Chekov. He didn’t know whether it was shame or pride, or perhaps a mix of both, but either way, every time he sat down to draft a message to Chekov, he couldn’t think of a thing to say. The scar from the forced Bond was only vaguely visible above the collar of his uniform, so he knew Chekov would never see it if he did make a video message, but Sulu still couldn’t think of a thing to say.

What _could_ he say? If there had ever been even the slightest chance of him transferring before, it was long gone after what Alpha had done. Both the Captain and CMO’s actions and words made it more than crystal clear that this was normal, and between himself and Alpha. Besides, Sulu knew he couldn’t complain about anything because it wasn’t Alpha, it was _him_. Sulu knew Alpha was right about everything he’d said.

So, he just stopped.

He still listened to Chekov’s messages when they came, though as time dragged on that became more of a punishment than anything else. The increasing sorrow and distress in the Russian’s tone ripped Sulu apart. He knew he deserved it thought, for abandoning his friend with no explanation. He wasn’t sure whether he should be heartbroken or relieved when the interval between messages grew longer.

The last message he’d gotten from Chekov was a short video of Chekov, trying his hardest to smile into the camera. “Hey Karu. I hope zhat you are okay, and zhat you are getting zhese messages. I vanted to share zhe good news. I got promoted to ensign and I am zhe head nawigator here now. I am shadowing zhe chief engineer as vell, so I keep busy.” The kid had looked like he’d wanted to say more, but just shook his head slightly. “I hope to hear from you soon.”

Sulu had sat staring at the dark screen for a long time, replaying Pav’s words in his mind, noting all the little expressions he’d shown. He’d looked healthy, sad too but Sulu attributed that to the fact that he was trying to talk to some screw up Omega who was ignoring him. Still, Hikaru was proud of his friend, wished more than anything that he could tell him. The kid was Ensign now, plus head navigator for the Federation’s flag ship. That was impressive for someone who was seventeen. Was he really seventeen already? He could hardly believe it had been that long.

There was such a finality to Chekov’s message, some underlying tone of goodbye. Somehow Hikaru knew he wouldn’t be hearing from his friend again. He closed his eyes, screen going dark after a while. Pav had given up on him. Not that he could blame Chekov, it wasn’t like he’d been acting the part of a good friend the past couple years. Ignoring Chekov’s messages, sending sparse replies those rare occasions he did so. Hikaru couldn’t actually remember the last time he’d responded to Pav’s messages.

He was a little impressed that Pav had kept trying as long as he did.

But he was done now, it seemed. He tried to tell himself that was good. That it protected the young Russian. Not that it softened the pain of knowing Pav was done with him.

That knowledge, that certainty, left a dull ache inside his chest. He was on his own now, there wasn’t even that impossible dream that maybe, somehow, he’d get out of this. His one last link to a happier time had moved on. It wasn’t like he had any friends here. The captain wanted nothing to do with him and the rest of the crewmembers seemed to be of the same mind. No one wanted to get close to him because he belonged to Jameson.

Listlessly, Hikaru stood from the desk, walking over to his bed and curling up in it.

This was his life now. He’d try to sleep, end up waking up choking by a scream covered in sweat, shower, then go to the mess to try and choke down some food. No one would try to talk to him, and he wouldn’t try to talk to them. There were a few of them he couldn’t even meet their eyes, those few that had caught glimpses, or heard some of, what Jameson was doing with him.

The bridge would be just as silent, though he might say two words every now and then. A ‘yes, captain’ or ‘yes, sir’ if Abbey gave him an order or directed any questions his way. It was so rare for his job to be difficult or challenging, so there was nothing to distract him there. Keeping the ship on track when traveling between research assignments was no problem and holding orbit around a planet was something Hikaru was positive he could do in his sleep.

If he slept, though that was a separate issue.

After his shift, he went back to his quarters, buried himself in anything he could get his hands on until, inevitably, Alpha called for him. He had no voice, no reason to speak unless it was to repeat what Jameson instructed him to repeat.

It was so much harder not to believe the things he was told, how he was just a worthless Omega, stupid and useless, good just to keep an Alpha satisfied. Even Pav, his best friend from the Academy, had given up on him, so he knew it had to be true.

It was never ending. A vicious cycle that Sulu could find no way out of. He tried. He tried to follow the rules, to be everything that Jameson wanted, hoping that would appease the man. He talked to no one, he stayed on the ship when the Indiana stopped for the crew to take shore leave, and he never brought his injuries to Huely in sickbay.

If Jameson complained about anything regarding his behavior, he tried to fix it.

What other option was there?

Like Jameson repeatedly beat into him, he belonged to the Alpha. He was there to help the crew run smoothly. Captain Abbey had mentioned that he was helping in that regard, so it had to be true, right?

Three months later and Hikaru wasn’t sure what was right or wrong.

************

“Looks like some of the work I put into you is finally paying off.” Jameson growled, holding Hikaru’s nude form against his own. Unlike every other evening, after he’d finished fucking his Omega, he’d rolled over and pulled Sulu on top of him.

Sulu let the Alpha move him around, body limp but for the tremors that always accompanied being in his Alpha’s presence. Jameson was running his hands roughly through Sulu’s hair, yanking on the black strands each time. Hikaru tried to keep quiet, heat rushing to his face in shame every time Jameson chuckled when his breath hitched in fear.

Sulu wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say to that comment, or if he was supposed to say anything. It was so much harder to read body cues or tones when he was so far down. The feeling of the Alpha’s length digging into his back, the fact that Alpha wasn’t shoving him out the door, and the threat of the hand in his hair all made it so that Hikaru didn’t _want_ to come up from his headspace. At least this way he was somewhat disconnected, could lie to himself and say he didn’t feel what Alpha was doing.

Sulu flinched as Jameson bite at the bond mark on his neck, a growl in the back of the Alpha’s throat. Hikaru’s thoughts caught up about the time Jameson’s fingers dug painfully into his ribs. “H-how, Alpha?” He asked, tone more of a pained yelp than anything else.

Hikaru bit his lip, trying to let go again as Jameson’s hands began their normal wandering, rough and uncomfortable, but not so pointedly painful.

“The Federation’s flag ship, the Enterprise, needs some new crew it seems. They got into a rough patch a month or so ago, just finished repairs. They lost a lot of crew, included their pilot.” Jameson explained, happy to hear himself talk. “I know I have the qualifications to get a post there, easy. The only reason I’m not a head of the department here is some Federation bull shit about being progressive enough to have Beta’s in charge…”

Hikaru shrank in on himself, familiar with this grievance. Jameson often raged about the asinine requirement that he, an Alpha, was required to take orders from a Beta. Sulu kept as still as he could, breathing shallowly in hopes that Jameson would move on and not take out his annoyance on him again tonight.

“There are a couple of Alpha’s on the Enterprise, so at least they’d understand…” Jameson continued, doing nothing but momentarily tightening his hold on the Omega. “The problem was you, of course.”

Without warning, Jameson shoved Sulu to the side, pouncing on him and straddling the pilot, pinning his hands to the side. Hikaru fought against the instinct to struggle, lifting his chin slightly to bare his throat in submission and making sure to avert his gaze to not challenge the Alpha. It was so backwards, so archaic and instinctual, but it’s the only way he could survive. This was what Jameson wanted, these were the rules, and so long as he followed them, Hikaru was usually able to walk out of Jameson's quarters without worrying he'd collapse in the corridor.

“I’d probably have had a post on the Enterprise months ago if it wasn’t for a certain useless Omega who gets by riding on the success of his Alpha.”

Sulu closed his eyes, jaw clenching as Jameson moved further down, sliding himself slowly, painfully inside Sulu, pressing close in a sick parody of intimacy. No matter how many times Jameson took him, used him, it always hurt.

“If one of the idiots here were Alpha, I could just pass you off to them.” Jameson huffed, thrusting into Hikaru’s body, reaching a hand over to wrap around the Omega’s throat. He chuckled at the panicked whimper that was quickly choked off. Jameson let out a low curse, relishing the way his Omega’s body tightened in response to the lack of oxygen. “You’re such a tight little whore, though, I can’t stand to share. You’re mine, my bitch.”

Jameson growled, grabbing a fistful of Hikaru’s hair and jerking his head back to bite down on the bond scar. He’d lost his train of thought, to focused on chasing his own pleasure, but Sulu didn’t care. His head was already spinning down as he tried to dissociate from what Jameson was doing, tried to be anywhere but _here_ in this present. Not being able to breath didn't help much with that.

The seconds it took Jameson to finish felt like an eternity to Sulu and he dragged in a relieved breath as the Alpha released his neck and pulled out of him. Hikaru was still gasping to get his breath back as Jameson grabbed his hair again, dragging him out of the bed and to his feet. “I’ve finally gotten a decent post, so you had better fucking not screw this up, you got that Omega?”

Sulu did his best to nod, despite Jameson’s tight grip. “Yes, Alpha.” He replied obediently, stumbling to stay on his feet and ignore the soreness that was his complete lower half. Jameson shoved him toward the couch, where Hikaru’s clothing lay neatly folded on the coffee table.

“The Enterprise will be at the station we dock at tomorrow, so you better have your shit together by then.”

Hikaru nodded, already throwing his clothes on and backing towards the door. At least it was a simple order, nothing he’d have any trouble remembering in the morning. Right now all he could focus on was getting out of sight before Jameson wanted anything more, then getting into the shower to clean the blood and mess off himself.

Anything after that was going to wait until morning.


	2. New Day New Ship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not in love with the way this chapter flows.... but here it is anyways.

Hikaru woke up with a pounding headache and more than a few aches and pains. His muscles felt stiff and aching, but he forced himself out of bed anyways. Looking at the time, he realized he’d passed out for a good four hours, thankfully dreamlessly.

His hands were shaking and his stomach was tied up in knots, twisting in a way that would have him vomiting but for the fact he’d done the dry heaving deal last night. By the end of the day the Indiana would be docking at the space station and he and Alpha would be transferring to a new ship.

That didn’t give him a lot of time to prepare, not that he had all that much stuff to pack. A few knick-knacks and his clothing, but the rest of the items cluttering his room were research books on botany that could, and should, remain on the ship. There were a few flight manuals that he would take with him, though arguably they could stay too.

Either way, he had a brief time to start the process now, and then a short time after his shift was over. Whatever he didn’t get packed he knew would get left behind. Sulu knew better than to delay the transfer, Jameson would be furious.

Thoughts of the upcoming transfer kept Sulu occupied throughout his shift. Alpha had said the Enterprise. How Jameson had gotten them to accept him as the pilot for the Federation Flagship, Sulu didn’t know. He was just an Omega, by all accounts useless except for one thing, so Jameson must have done _something_.

Hikaru wasn’t concerned with his ability to perform his job as pilot, he’d thrown himself into studying each and every flight manual he could get his hands on, including the one’s for the still experimental ships. Sometimes, when the Indiana made a stop at a Federation base and Jameson had been busy, Sulu’d sneak away to take the flight tests and get certified on different crafts. Anything he could do to distract himself from this hell of a life, he’d done.

It wasn’t the job that worried him, it was keeping up with the crew. They were the best Starfleet had to offer, and he was…. Omega.

And besides that… the Enterprise… that’s where Chekov was stationed.

How was he even going to handle that? Pav had his own life now, his own friends. He didn’t need Hikaru coming back in and messing that up. And if by some impossible means Pav wanted to give Sulu a second shot, Hikaru knew he wouldn’t be able to take it. Jameson had always hated how much time he spent with the young Beta. Taking up that habit again would only put Chekov at risk.

Thinking of how jealous Jameson was regarding anyone near his Omega, brought Sulu to another distressing thought. The other Alpha’s on the Enterprise.

It made sense, that a ship so important as the Enterprise would have multiple Alphas. It was a highly sought-after post and Alpha’s had that natural competitive dominance to push for a position on the ship. Not that this helped Sulu any, either way he’d be dealing with working around multiple Alphas. He already knew he had a few hellish weeks of consistently being claimed by Jameson before his Alpha was settled in the ship hierarchy.

Sulu relinquished his post to his replacement once his shift was up, heading to his quarters. There was a weight of dread over him, something he was sure some of the Beta’s here on the Indiana could sense. None of them made eye contact with him, they never did anyways, but a few of them went so far as to skirt over to the opposite side of the corridor.

Sulu reacted to none of them, too busy trying to quell the rising panic knowing he would be spending consecutive nights with Jameson very soon.

The only good news would be that Jameson wouldn’t be friends with the CMO on this other ship. Although, that was also bad news. Jameson would kill him if he got him in trouble, and who knew what this knew CMO would be like.

Sulu shook his head to dispel those thoughts, finishing up packing. He needed to move it to the transporter or he’d be late. He’d heard the docking announcement a while ago, and if he didn’t hurry Jameson would be waiting for him.

Happily, Jameson was walking up to the transporter room at the same time as Sulu. That was a relief in and of itself, as was the way Jameson didn’t so much as glance over at him. Attention from the Alpha was always bound to turn negative.

The two of them moved to the transporter pad without a word. The transport operator was the only one speaking, coordinating with the Enterprise and the bridge here on the Indiana. Sulu barely heard any of it, his heart pounding at standing so close to Alpha in a public space. He knew how unlikely it was that Alpha would do anything to him here, now, but his body was too used to the fear and pain the man represented.

In no time at all, the familiar lights of the transporter were swirling around them and a second later they were standing in a near identical room on board the Enterprise. Oddly enough, the First Officer was waiting for them. Sulu could see he was Vulcan, and Alpha going by his scent, though Hikaru had no idea why he was there to greet them.

“Commander Spock.” Jameson greeted the officer.

Hikaru glanced up at Jameson, feeling a tight anxiety in his chest. Obviously, Alpha had known about the transfer for long enough to look up who the ranking officers on the ship were. All Hikaru had to go by were the rank insignia on the uniform, with no name. It was going to be a landmine of insults and disrespect, he could tell already. At least this time it didn't look like he needed to say anything.

“Lieutenant Jameson, Lieutenant Sulu.” Spock nodded to each of them in greeting. “If you would follow me. The captain offers his regrets he was unable to greet you both, we have received an urgent message from Talos four. They are in need of a delicate medication which we are to deliver. Lt. Jameson, after you have been cleared you are to report to your post to assist in the manufacture of the medicine. Lt. Sulu, you will follow the shift schedule assigned.” Spock explained as they walked, coming to a stop at a junction in the corridor.

“Yes, Commander.” Jameson responded, Sulu following suite with a “yes, sir” a moment later.

“Doctor McCoy is awaiting your arrival in sickbay.” Spock informed them, handing each of them a data padd before turning and walking away.

Hikaru didn’t have a chance to spare the Vulcan any further thought. Clicking his fingers at the Omega, Jameson was already striding down the corridor. Sulu followed the Alpha thoughtlessly, eyes trained to the floor like he knew the man wanted.

Follow the rules and he’d be fine. Jameson was going to be busy immediately after this and Hikaru hoped he’d get lucky and his shift would last long enough that the Alpha would be asleep before he had to opportunity to call Sulu to his quarters.

In next to no time at all they were entering sickbay. It wasn’t hard for Hikaru to figure out who the CMO was, it was obviously to man barking orders to the medical staff. He was also unmistakably Alpha, a fact Jameson wasn’t too pleased with going by the way he was very suddenly tense and smelling vaguely of anger. Hikaru was not looking forward to that confrontation, or more accurately, how Jameson would react later.

The CMO caught sight of the two of them, but instead of coming over himself, he directed a strict looking blonde woman towards them.

“Hello, I’m nurse Chapel. It’s a little hectic at the moment, so I’ll take care of your exam for the time being. Doctor McCoy will need to clear the both of you later, but for now this will do.“ She explained, leading them over out of the chaos.

Jameson’s exam went quickly. Not that Hikaru was surprised. He was an Alpha, what did anyone expect? When nurse Chapel beckoned him forward, he was far more anxious. He didn’t consider himself _unhealthy_ , because surely Huely would have said something about that, but he did worry about the marks and injuries Jameson had left on him last night.

He didn’t know this woman and yet here she was about to see each and every mark. It might only be a readout from the scanner, but she’d still know. And he knew, he _knew_ , exactly what excuse Jameson was going to give. Knew what was expected of him.

Chapel straightened up in surprise, blinking at the readout of Sulu’s scan. “Oh, I-“

Without missing a beat, Jameson smiled charmingly at her, shifting forward to slip an arm around Hikaru. “We’re bonded, and we may have gotten a little carried away in our excitement at this new post.” He apologized, tone taking on a sweet and embarrassed quality. “He keeps me on my toes, such a handful.”

Hikaru looked up at Chapel when Jameson pressed into him, knowing the part he had to play. “Yes, ma’am.” He agreed, putting a smile on his face. “I apologize, it was my fault. It won’t happen again.”

Chapel had a dubious look on her face, though she was casting worried glances at the growing commotion on the other side of the medical area.

Jameson took the opportunity, feigning concern. “I’ll make sure he gets treated, and we’ll be more careful in the future, I promise. I just have a hard time saying no to him, don’t I?”

Sulu gave a nod and that seemed to convince her. “Alright, but the both of you will need to come back after this whole mess so that Doctor McCoy can clear you. Until then, you’re both fine to go.”

Jameson nodded, still smiling, and pulled Hikaru to his feet and toward the door. His grip tightened on Sulu’s shoulders once they were in the corridor, turning to look down at the pilot with annoyance. “We’ve been on this ship for twenty damn minutes and you’re already causing me problems. What the hell did you even do all day, dick around?” Jameson snapped angrily, voice low.

“Go deal with yourself before your shift.” He ordered, turning abruptly and walking away after that.

Hikaru took a slow steadying breath, trying to calm his racing heart. He wasn’t really surprised that he’d already done something wrong, though he was disappointed that he’d managed to screw up so quickly. He checked the padd Spock had given him, finding his assigned quarters and shift schedule.

Studiously ignoring the crewmen he passed on the way, Hikaru headed to his quarters to try and deal with the still fresh welts and bruises before his shift started.


	3. Remember Me?

Hikaru did the best he could, but there was only so much he could do with a dermal regenerator. It wasn’t easy to deal with his back, but he could fix most of the damage to the rest of himself. Once he was done with that, he still had quite a bit of time before he was due on the bridge.

He didn’t leave his quarters, simply lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking.

He didn’t look for Chekov. He could have, and a part of him wanted to, but he didn’t.

He hadn’t let the Russian know that he, and Jameson, had been assigned to the Enterprise. Pav’s last message had been so final, such an obvious goodbye, that even if he’d have had time to give the kid a heads up he wasn’t sure he would have done so. Understandably, Pav had moved on. He’d probably found better friends, solid Beta’s to surround himself with who would support him. Not drag him down with their drama and weakness.

Chekov was out of this hellish nightmare of Sulu’s life and he had no intention of dragging the navigator back down. At least one of them was out and Sulu hoped that Chekov really had moved on with his life. It would hurt, but at least that way only one of them would be in pain.

Besides, Alpha would be more possessive than ever since there were three other alphas on the ship.

Hikaru did worry about blindsiding Chekov by simply just _being_ there all of a sudden. Chekov likely didn’t read the names of every new crewman, so he would have no advance notice that his once best friend was going to be on shift on the bridge.

Either way, it was far too late to do anything about it now. He was already on board and his shift started in a couple hours. Whatever Chekov’s reaction, whether happy or indifferent, Hikaru had already made up his mind to keep his distance. Again, he hoped that Chekov wouldn’t care. Even if it were to keep Pavel safe, Hikaru knew that he would hate himself for causing Pav pain by pushing him away.

Hikaru let out a shaky sigh and got up. After double and triple checking his uniform, making sure everything was in order and agonizing over the slight visibility of the bond scar on his neck, Sulu left his room. He was somewhat surprised to be assigned the position of chief helmsman. Sure, he had taken all the courses and received the training for it, but other than the Indiana he had no experience.

Still, he couldn’t say he wasn’t unexcited at the prospect of piloting this ship. Constitution class star ship, freshly repaired with the most up to date equipment and computer programs. With that as his focus, it was easier to leave his quarters and head to the bridge.

He tried to keep himself calm and focused, centering himself as he rode the turbolift. The captain was definitely going to be on the bridge, they were only a few hours out of port and headed to an urgent situation after all. That was nothing unusual, but Sulu needed to make a good first impression or risk Jameson’s anger. Not to mention that the captain was Alpha and would easily be able to pick up on Hikaru’s stronger emotions.

Sulu let out a slow breath. He could do it, he knew he could. He had plenty of practice hiding his feeling and emotions. The bridge was a neutral environment, he could do this just fine.

The first thing he notice when he walked onto the bridge was the absence of Chekov. It was almost a relief, though he knew that relief would be short lived. He’d checked the duty roster and knew Chekov had the same shift as him.

The captain, Jim Kirk, gave him smile and a nod. “Welcome aboard Mister Sulu.”

Hikaru hesitated briefly, uncertain at this casual greeting. He mirrored the nod, dropping his eyes. “Thank you, captain.”

It was awkward, and he hated it, because he knew that wasn’t what an Omega was supposed to do. But other than the couple times he’d been on shore leave without Jameson, he’d never had an Alpha smile so politely at him when they weren’t actively pursuing him for some reason.

He sat down at his station, refamiliarizing himself with the controls as a distraction. Their course and heading were already laid in, so there wasn’t that much for him to keep an eye on. He could feel the captain’s gaze on his back and he wished for something, anything, to distract the man.

Like an answered prayer, the lift doors opened again, but when Sulu glanced over his heart sank.

It wasn’t fair.

_It wasn’t fair._

Chekov just wanted to stare. It was impossible. Just… how? After so long, after so many transfer requests, so many denials and non-responses… here he was. Pavel wanted to cry. He’d tried so _hard_ the past few weeks, months, to come to grips with letting go, to actually move on. He’d convinced himself that he had.

But seeing Karu here, sitting at the helm and looking the exact same as he had two years ago…

No. Not the same.

In a way, Hikaru looked better, but he also looked worse. There was something… off about the way he held himself. It had only been two years and Chekov hated to think he’d forgotten even one of Sulu’s little quirks, the tells that let him know when something was wrong.

Pavel could easily remember how Sulu had been so carefree back at the Academy, but then more reserved on the Indiana. Looking at him now, he seemed so dispassionate he might give Spock a run for least emotional.

If he looked very hard, Pav could see the subtle hints of tension and discomfort, so much better hidden than he remembered them ever being. Somehow, Chekov knew that was less because he was out of practice looking, and more because Sulu had become that much more adept at hiding himself.

The bridge was heavy with an odd anticipation, though Pavel felt like the room had shrunk to hold only himself and Hikaru. He forced himself to move, to make his way to his station as if all of this was normal and he wasn’t just seeing his best friend for the first time in two years.

Chekov settled into his station, setting it up and going through the systems once in an attempt to calm down. Unable to put it off any longer without things becoming even _more_ awkward, Chekov turned halfway in his seat to face Sulu. “Uhm… Hi, Karu.”

Sulu froze in complete stillness for a moment, even his fingers coming to a stop over the control panel. For a second, Pav thought Sulu might look at him, might smile and greet him with a joke. For one tiny heartbeat, Chekov thought things would be okay. That they could just pick back up.

Instead, Hikaru shifted his head just the bare minimum in acknowledgement of Chekov’s words. His response was bland, spoken in a tone that was polite, but recognizable as one that was only used between the most distant of acquaintances. “Ensign.”

Just like that the anticipation was gone, replaced by a thick tension throughout the bridge.

Chekov flushed red, turning back to his own station and biting his tongue hard to keep himself from crying. Ensign. Like they didn’t even know each other.


	4. That was Unexpected

Even with the urgent mission they were on, with the tension of rushing to the aid of Talos IV, Kirk couldn’t help but be excited.

It had been two years since Chekov had joined his crew and a bout a year and a half since he started calling the Russian part of his pack. He’d taken a liking to the kid genius almost immediately, but it had taken decisively longer for the young Beta to warm up to him, or anyone else for that matter.

Once the Russian had opened up, however, he was an endless source of energy and joy. And he loved to talk and tell stories, his favorite topic being the best friend from the Academy, the infamous Hikaru Sulu. Chekov had spoken about the pilot so often, had tried so many times to get him transferred to the Enterprise, that it soon became an odd occurrence for the name Sulu not to fall from the navigator’s mouth at least once a day.

When he’d been going through applications for new crewmembers, Kirk had all but jumped seeing Sulu’s name. Sure, it had been attached as a tag along to the Alpha he was bonded to, but he was still being considered for the post. He was more than qualified, over qualified even, and Kirk had to wonder why he hadn’t gotten transferred before this.

The science officer, Jameson, had a record and history that was mediocre at best, but was enough to give Jim enough reason to select him to be on the crew. It meant that he got one of the best pilots in the fleet, and Chekov’s old friend to boot.

Ever since then he’d been counting down the days to himself, just waiting for what was sure to be an epic reunion. Unfortunately, the urgent situation on Talos had pushed their timetable up, giving no one on the ship a chance to take any time off or relax.

Still, Chekov and Sulu had the first shift together on the bridge, so he was content knowing they’d get to spend time together, albeit while working.   
Except the meeting hadn’t gone at all like he’d expected.

For one, he hadn’t expected Hikaru to have _not_ told Chekov that he’d been assigned to the Enterprise. From the way Pavel spoke of Hikaru, they had been the closest of friends. But it had been painfully obvious that Chekov had gotten no warning that his friend was going to be on the bridge.

And boy had that shift gone spectacularly wrong. Kirk was used to many of his plans going up in flames, but nothing quite so spectacularly as that. Awkward silence all the way up til both Sulu and Chekov had left the bridge.

Kirk had noticed the tension in Hikaru, the way he held himself somewhat stiffly in his seat at the helm. He’d thought that was simply nerves at meeting up with a friend he hadn’t seen in two years, a friend who he’d been a little lax at responding to messages. But Sulu hadn’t so much as tried to reconnect even in the smallest way during shift, and the pilot’s tension hadn’t decreased in the slightest the entire time. He left the bridge once his shift was up just as silently and stiffly as he’d entered.

There was definitely a mystery there.

True, Chekov had been withdrawn and quiet when he’d first arrived on this ship, but he had been a young Ensign. Given some of the thing’s Pavel had spoken of, he’d been judged according to his youth rather than skills before, so it had taken a while before he’d become comfortable. Hikaru was a highly skilled pilot, a profession that usually resulted in a confident and sometimes cocky personality. Sulu was neither of those.

The complete opposite, it would seem.

Something that didn’t line up with any of the things Chekov had said about the pilot in the past.

Chekov had been a bit slower in leaving, probably waiting for Hikaru to have taken the lift and gotten out of sight. Kirk tapped a finger on his chair, considering his next move. He definitely needed to talk to Chekov. The Ensign looked completely distraught.

A few minutes later, right on time, Spock walked through the doors onto the bridge. Jim hopped up, giving him a cheeky grin as he relinquished the captain’s chair. “Let me know as soon as we arrive at Talos IV.” He told the Vulcan, a completely unnecessary request as he knew Spock would have told him either way.

Leaving Spock in charge, Kirk headed off the bridge and jogged down the corridor to catch up to Chekov.


	5. Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY GUACAMOLI!! I’m back with another chapter! Had you given up hope? I wouldn’t be surprised to be honest… Anywho! This chapter hops around characters a bit, but hey. Progress, right?

Hikaru kept a carefully neutral expression leaving the bridge and moving carefully through the corridors. He was able to keep it together all the way to his quarters, letting out a long low breath as the doors slid closed behind him. He activated the lock, not that it made him feel any safer, and leaned back against the door.

He slid slowly down, sitting with his knees drawn up near his chest. For just a moment, he allowed himself to regret, to feel and second guess his decision.

He’d almost lost his resolve, hearing his old nickname, the hopeful note in Chekov’s voice. He couldn’t help but picture what it could have been like if he’d acted different. If he’d turned to his old friend with a smile and a joke. If his Alpha wasn’t Jamison, then he could be hanging out with Pav right now, getting the grand tour of the ship.

Hikaru let out a shuddered breath, trying to force away the burning sensation in his eyes. He couldn’t afford this right now. It had been for the best, the navigator didn’t need Hikaru in his life. They could be work colleagues and nothing else.

Sulu buried the feeling of guilt, sniffling once and wiping his eyes before forcing himself to his feet. He was supposed to report back to sickbay for the CMO to confirm his clearance to be on duty, and he was going to have to be convincing if he didn’t want Alpha to have to step in again. He was probably already going to catch hell tonight for the cover up with the nurse, he didn’t want any more things for Alpha to punish him for.

~~

Pavel hadn’t been moving very quickly, so Jim was able to spot him quickly after leaving the bridge.

“Hey, Chekov!” Kirk called out to the Russian, jogging to catch up.

Chekov stopped when the captain called out to him, turning to look at him with a near blank expression. “Keptain?”

“Chekov,” Kirk let out a sigh and gathering his thoughts. “Look, I’m sorry. If I’d have known how that was going to go, I would have given you some warning. I figured he would have gotten in touch with you when he was approved.”

Chekov shook his head, smiling in a way Kirk could tell was not genuine at all. “Nyet, it is no problem Keptain, eet iz not your fault. I should not hawe expected anyzhing… I mean, zhe last message I sent him vas not…” Pavel trailed off again, looking away and shifting uncomfortably.

Kirk frowned in sympathy. “Don’t blame yourself. It’s been a couple years and you’ve mentioned he doesn’t respond to your messages most of the time. People change sometime, you know?”

“Maybe.” Chekov agreed sadly, shoulders drooping slightly.

"Or he was just having an off day.” Jim couldn’t help trying to cheer the kid up. It was hard seeing him in such low spirits. “He looked tense to me, so maybe that’s why? Try giving him a day or two to get used to the new ship. I can talk to him, or Jameson, try an-“

“No!” Chekov interrupted, eyes going a bit wide for a split second, quick enough Kirk wasn’t entirely sure it had even happened. “No, no, zhat won’t be necessary sir.” Chekov continued in a more sedate tone despite the rapid beating of his heart.

Jim was looking at him in concern and confusion now and Chekov couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t cause Hikaru problems. Sulu might not want to be friends anymore, but there was no way that Pavel was going to do anything to hurt him. Even by accident. Not if he could help it.

“It vas his first day, and zhere is zhe emergency at Talos, zhat is probably vhy he seemed off.” Chekov explained, scrambling for a believable story. And it might even be true, in another life. “And… zhe last message I sent to him vas zhree monzh ago, he probably zhought I had moved on too.”

Chekov held his breath as Kirk looked him over, weighing his words. He hoped and prayed that the captain wouldn’t see through his words. He hadn’t lied, not really, only come up with a believable excuse for Hikaru’s behavior on the bridge. Much as he adored and respected Kirk, he was terrified of what would happen to Karu if Jim spoke with Jameson.

Captain Abbey had been adamant about not getting between those two and their relationship, and while Chekov felt guilty for doubting Kirk, he couldn’t risk it. Kirk might not want to interfere either, might disapprove of Chekov causing problems within the crew.

“I’m sorry Keptin, but I should be going. I hawe some equations for Scotty and vas on my vay to engineering to shadow him during his shift today.” Chekov excused himself, stepping away when Kirk nodded. He would be a little early, he _was_ planning on finishing equations for scotty and shadowing him, just he wasn’t expected in engineering for another hour or two.

Still, he’d rather try and dodge Scotty’s questions than Kirk’s. Scotty would let it go if he was careful enough, but Kirk was looking at him like he could see straight through his story. He felt guilty and embarrassed for basically running away, but after Sulu’s surprise appearance, and the cold shoulder he’d given him… he couldn't risk just spilling everything to the captain.

Kirk watched Chekov hurry away feeling completely at a loss. At least the navigator wasn’t sad anymore, but that was hardly comforting given the tense nervousness he’d caught from Chekov before the kid had left. It didn’t make any sense. Maybe Sulu’s posting here had shaken Chekov more than he wanted to let on?

Jim let out another sigh, scratching his head as he turned and made his way back down the corridor to his office. Whatever was going on, he’d make sure to keep an eye on Chekov _and_ Sulu. He wouldn’t speak with Jameson about any of it considering Chekov was so against that. Maybe there was some dislike there? Probably wasn’t the first time a friendship hit a rough patch due to a Bond.

Kirk rubbed his hand over his eyes as he entered his office and sat at his desk. For now, he’d let his new crewmembers get settled. He had a mountain of reports to get through anyway and he needed to sort out the medicine deliver schedule before they arrived at Talos. Spock would probably be calling him back to the bridge for their arrival in the next hour or so.

Putting the conundrum of Chekov and Sulu from his mind, he pulled a data padd closer and activated the screen on his desk, getting to work.

~~

It felt a little bit like cheating, but Hikaru waited until they were about a half hour away from Talos before heading back to sickbay. He couldn’t be sure of the exact timing, but so long as their speed remained the same since he’d given up the helm, he was fairly confident about his calculation.

Hopefully he’d get a clear from the CMO, or one of the nurses, without the stipulation of returning later for another exam.

He had fixed everything he could and had rehearsed what Alpha would want him to say hopefully enough that it would sound natural. He didn’t know who Alpha would end up making friends with, or he might already have a friend, and he couldn't risk someone reporting his failure to follow a simple order from Alpha. If he could just do this one thing right, he could start off this new post with Alpha in a good mood.

Medical bay was about as chaotic as he’d anticipated when he arrived. Judging by all the blue shirts racing around, it looked like the entire medical staff on board where working in here right now. He observed the chaos for a moment, he had plenty of practice going unnoticed, trying to find Doctor McCoy.

This was the part he wasn’t looking forward to. However much it was required and there was no way around it, Alpha was still going to be pissed and jealous that he was speaking to another Alpha. He could maybe keep it from Alpha so long as McCoy’s scent didn’t get on him, but what were the odds of that?

After finding a small break in the chaos, Sulu made his way over to McCoy.


	6. Busy Busy Busy

McCoy didn’t immediately notice him, so Sulu was forced to catch his attention. “Doctor McCoy?” He shifted into the man’s like of sight, keeping eye contact with the alpha. He spoke quickly, heart beat speeding up as the doctor narrowed his eyes. “I’m Hikaru Sulu, Nurse Chapel said I would need to come back to get cleared for duty. She gave me the okay earlier, but I would need you to okay it.”

McCoy growled lowly to himself, scanning over the rush of his staff around sickbay. He didn’t really have time for this. He pulled up the man’s file on the nearest console, scanning through it briefly. A clean history and health record, a few discrepancies with his physical scan, but there was a note about an explanation from both Hikaru and his Bonded alpha, Jameson.

“You say Chapel cleared ya?” He gruffed, glancing back at Sulu.

Hikaru nodded, throat too tight to speak right now. McCoy did not seem to be in the best of moods and he wasn’t sure if it was because of him or not. Plus, it wasn’t completely true. She’d only temporarily cleared him, with the stipulation that he come back later when it wasn’t so busy. Which he was purposefully doing the opposite.

“Alright, then you’re cleared for duty, I trust her judgment. Report to the shuttle bay in twenty minutes, we’re gonna need all the pilots we can get to get this medicine down there.” McCoy stated, turning back to the console and entering the update to Hikaru’s profile.

Sulu knew a dismissal when he heard one, but against his better judgement, his curiosity had him sticking around for a moment longer.

McCoy activated the comm a moment later, barking into it. “Jim, I’ve conscripted your chief helmsman to shuttle the medicine down, it’s too delicate to use the transporter. We’re gonna need all hands on deck for this, but we’re ready to load the stuff onto the shuttles now.”

“Sure thing Bones.” Kirk’s voice responded, “We’re entering orbit now and I’ll pass along the message to the base commander.”

McCoy nodded to himself, straightening up and turning around. He scowled seeing Hikaru still standing there. “Well, you waiting on an escort? Get goin.”

Hikaru winced, but McCoy was already turning away. He wasn’t sure whether to be worried or relieved about that, but he decided it would probably be best to get going. If he made himself useful loading the medicine in the shuttle bay, he wouldn’t run into Alpha before the mission started.

~~

When they arrived at Talos IV, Kirk assigned Spock to assist Sulu in transporting the medicine. Hikaru was more than qualified to fly a simple shuttle, no matter how delicate the material being transported, but he was still a new crewman. Spock needed to be on the planet to coordinate anyway, and maybe the even stability of the Vulcan would help what was apparently a rough transition for their new pilot.  
Chekov was already down in engineering, and Kirk hoped that Scotty could cheer up the little Russian in the process of handling keeping the Enterprise’s orbit stable. Chekov and Scotty were close friends, so if nothing else, maybe the navigator would confide in the other man.

For his part, Jim remained on the bridge, coordinating with the government on Talos and with Bones. McCoy was of course, somehow, both frothing to go down to the planet to administer his medicine and griping about how he wouldn’t want to go to a disease filled world for anything. It was a fun/not fun line Kirk had to balance on during these high stress missions like these when they came along. If he didn’t pay attention, Bones would probably be on the next transport down, despite knowing he’d have to be back in sickbay to check results and make adjustments to the formula.

Happily, a few reminders that McCoy would have ample time spent on the planet looking after more than enough patients in the coming days was enough to keep McCoy from following his first instinct.

“Shuttle bay, status?” Kirk questioned after activating the comm.

“Cargo is loaded and secured, Captain.”

“Alright.” Kirk responded, making a note on his data padd before continuing. “I’ll notify Talos command that you’re on your way.”

The deliver shouldn’t take long, the weather and atmosphere of the main city was smooth and calm, so Jim wanted to make sure that the medical staff on the planet were ready. He switched the comm link to the central headquarters, the chief medic medic’s voice sounding both haggard and relieved. “Captain Kirk, glad you made it so quickly.”

“Got here as fast as we could, and the medicine is on it’s way. Doctor McCoy said it was too fragile for the transporter, but the shuttle is already en-route.”

“Preliminary tests of our own showed much the same, so we were prepared for the delay. We have already received the landing zone from your pilots and have medical teams waiting.” The man assured him, pausing for a moment before continuing. “I’m forwarding pretrial results so your ships medic can make necessary adjustments. We’ll get the results of the medicine within an hour of administering them. Believe me, we want McCoy’s expertise in person as soon as possible.”

“Sorry to keep him on board, but it just makes things quicker. Don’t worry, once we get the results, Doctor McCoy will run the data through our computers and transport down to make the adjustments there.”

Kirk leaned back in his chair once the line disconnected. This was one of the most stressful, but least hectic, missions the Enterprise had undertaken in some time. There were so many lives on the line, but Jim couldn’t do anything to help except coordinate with Bones and the other medics.

For now, the base had been notified, the shuttle was on its way, and Bones had his data. The only thing left for Jim to do now was keep track of the shuttle.

~~

Sulu considered himself a pro at compartmentalizing. It had become a necessary skill, born initially from shame and embarrassment and refined by the need to survive. Jameson wouldn’t be pleased if he made an embarrassment out of him, and Hikaru knew he was already skating thin ice from the whole debacle in sickbay. Those skills were put to the test a little sooner than he’d expected when he arrived in the shuttle bay and discovered that the person in charge was Commander Spock.

Hikaru remembered the man had been waiting on them when they’d arrived, it hadn’t even been a full day and Sulu would have to be an idiot to forget him that quickly (or at all). Yet somehow, it still surprised him to be suddenly working right alongside the third, and final, new Alpha here on the ship.

Happily, if any panic or nervousness showed before Hikaru could hide it away, the Commander didn’t notice. Spock didn’t look twice at him after handing him the data padd with the flight plan and giving him instructions on assisting in loading the cargo. A casual distribution of orders, then Spock was moving along keeping track of the rest of what was going on.

It was normal and professional, and enough so that Hikaru could easily get his thought in order and focus on the mission. For now, he let the others handling moving cargo while he started pre-flight preparations on the two shuttles designated for the transport. It was something he could almost do in his sleep, but he still loved and took comfort in the simple routine.

Roughly twenty minutes later and Hikaru had completed his checklist on the second shuttle. Both were in working order and ready to depart, so he turned around to find the Commander to report in.

A quick glance around showed him the cargo was completely loaded, so he headed towards his shuttle only to see Spock headed towards him from that direction already.

“Flight checks are complete, Commander.” He reported, slowing down slightly as he drew closer.

Spock turned as Sulu reach him, moving to walk beside the pilot as they entered the shuttle. “The cargo is secure and Lt. Amand is helming shuttle two following your lead.”

Hikaru nodded automatically, already sliding into the pilot seat of the shuttle. The flight path was entered and the landing coordinates calculated, so all they needed was clearance from the bridge. As if on cue, Kirk’s voice came over the comm asking for status.

Hikaru responded the affirmative, mind already focused completely on the task at hand. Once he’d gotten clearance, he guided the shuttle out of the dock. Beside him, Spock was sending their landing coordinates to the planet and monitoring the other shuttle and flight path. It was so smooth, almost seamless, Hikaru could almost forget the urgent nature of the mission. And how strange it was that they’d put an Omega, one who was almost the newest member of this crew at that, in such a priority position as piloting the shuttle with the medicine.

It didn’t make sense, but he wasn’t going to dwell on it right now. For now, he was doing what he’d joined Starfleet to do; helping people and making a difference. Questions, worries, and doubts could wait until he was back on the ship, off duty and in the safety of his own quarters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like my writing skills have gotten rusty.... 
> 
> Well, hopefully this chapter doesn't disappoint!
> 
> Kudos are appreciated and Comments are cause for celebration!


	7. Inevitable, But Somehow Unexpected

Upon leaving medical earlier that day, Jameson had forgone heading to his quarters before his shift. He preferred to get to know the layout of his new territory. This ship was far bigger and more advanced, and he was interested to see what it had to offer. He also wanted to case out the new place, get a feel for the new crew here.

Jameson was thrilled at the promotion, he’d been trying to get a posting here for a while now. Sure, he still held the same rank, but such a prestigious ship like the Enterprise was a boost to anyone’s career. He was starting over though too, a new captain, CMO, and crew to work with. Captain Abbey and doctor Huely had been of the same mind as him concerning certain designations, something he’d found out long before his current Omega had arrived, but he didn’t know how the senior staff’s opinion fell here.

Not that it really mattered too much, he’d just need to be more discrete for a while. His pet knew better than to make problem by now, little bitch had been jumping all over himself to placate that nurse. Bout time the Omega learned his place. Jameson shook away the annoyance. The Omega would obediently fix the issue with the doctor or he’d fuck it up. Either way, it was something to deal with later.

For now, he took his time wandering the different decks, finding the hang out spots and lounges, as well as all the science labs. The last place he headed was engineering. It was where he was posted, so when he did make his way there, he left plenty of time to explore before his shift actually started.

Jameson paced through engineering, getting his bearings and watching the various crew working. It was all pretty routine, for all that the ship was on an urgent mission, they weren’t pushing the engines beyond capacity. There were plenty of people running tests and diagnostics, monitoring power levels, and a few here and there making minor repairs.

Even knowing he was the new man out, this being his first day on shift and on the ship in general, Jameson already felt that possessive territorial attitude. He’d be running this deck one day, soon as he got to know the systems in and out. The current chief engineer was only a beta after all, so Jameson felt it was only natural that he take over after a while.

Not that he thought the man was incapable, if he ran a ship like such as this one, he had to be good at his job. That much was obvious without Jameson even needing to meet him. It’s just that Alphas were natural leaders, better suited to it than a Beta. He’d held a high rank on the Indiana, though it had always annoyed him that the captain had been Beta, though he still respected Abbey. But now Starfleet had noticed his potential, had promoted him to the Enterprise, so why wouldn’t he naturally take over position as chief engineer once the time came?

Speak of the devil, Jameson thought. He lifted an eyebrow at the skinny little man that was apparently, chief engineer of the ship going by the strips on his sleeve. Figuring he may as well introduce himself, Jameson headed over and put on a smile. “Lt. Commander Scott I presume?” He greeted the man, holding out a hand. “Your reputation proceeds you. I’m one of your new engineers, Lt. Jameson.”

“Aye, welcome aboard. Call me Scotty, every does.” Scotty returned, shaking Jameson’s hand. “Let me tell ya, you’ve come aboard at a pretty easy time. Not much for us to worry ‘bout down here for the next littl’ while since we’ll just be orbiting a planet. Now, las’ week…”

Scotty snorted, shaking his head remembering that debacle. “I’ll ha’e to tell ya bout that one over drinks sometimes, worst headache I’ve had since telling the admiral ‘bout the transporter mix up years ago. Anyway, come on.” Scotty waved Jameson along.

Jameson followed along, already grating his teeth over how much this man talked. As if his accent didn’t make it impossible to understand him, he never shut up. How the hell this guy made it to chief engineer, he had not idea. Maybe he had an in somewhere, connections of some sort.

“And here’s your station and team.”

Jameson tuned back in as they stopped, glancing over the three redshirts. The two at a console were non-human, and the third heading over to Scotty and Jameson was human.

“Lt. Jameson, this here is Ensigns Kerrek, Alou, and Crewman first class Johnson.” Scotty introduced, motioning to each as he spoke their names and rank. Scotty’d gathered just watching the man that the new lieutenant engineer was big on ranking. He hoped that wouldn’t be a problem for him working with lower ranked crew while he was on board the Enterprise. Some Alpha’s tended to be touchy about that in Scotty’s experience.

“Well, I better get goin’. Walk away for too long and something always finds a way of being a disaster.” Scotty stated, giving Johnson a grin before turning to leave. These guys could get acquainted and Scotty knew Johnson would show Jameson the ropes.

Jameson didn’t get the joke, but it was one going by Johnson’s chuckling as Scotty walked away. Jameson wanted to roll his eyes, the man treated the engineering crew like they were all old drinking buddies, not exactly a stellar way to run a ship. It was no wonder there were so many stories of the Enterprise running into disasters. He was going to have some work to do once he was in charge.

For now though, he had to start with this group he was assigned to. He’d start by getting to know the crew, make a few friends, and work his way up from there.

~~

“You’re here early laddie.” Scotty greeted Chekov as the Russian walked over. He’d taken the time to settle all his new recruits, the handful that he had, and had been in the process of running tests on a few of the more rundown conduits in the non-vital areas of the ship. He frowned as he looked up and took in Pavel’s demeanor. “You alright? You seem a little…”

“I’m alvight.” Chekov assured him, forcing on a smile.

“Ya sure lad? If you wanna talk bout it, I’d be happy to listen.” Scotty offered.

“Nyet. It vas just Karu, he…” Chekov shook his head and sighed heavily. “Maybe we could talk later, for now, zhe Enterprise vill arrive at Talos in an hour.”

Scotty nodded in understand, patting Chekov’s shoulder sympathetically. He’d heard Chekov talk about Hikaru Sulu more than once, though as the time wore on and Sulu didn’t return messages, many of those story telling times had ended with Chekov having this same look. Sadness, hurt, and resignation.

Whatever was going on had something to do with Pavel’s once friend, but the kid wasn’t looking to talk right now, he was looking for a distraction. Scotty could do that, there was still plenty more he could teach the Russian about engineering. More than enough to occupy even his genius with.

~~

“Looks like zhere is a power fluctuation on deck fifteen.” Chekov reported, frowning at a display on one of the consoles.

“Again?” Scotty sighed, moving over to take a look.

He and Chekov had wandered around the warp core for a while, making a few adjustments and ensuring it would be stable while the ship was in orbit, and had since moved on to running routine diagnostics of other ship systems. The rest of the crew would be occupied with the Talos emergency, Scotty had even sent of few of his engineers to help with the manual labor, so the two were free to tinker with the smaller systems that had been neglected the past couple weeks.

It was mostly to keep Chekov busy and test his knowledge of the ship, since there wasn’t too much else to do for once. Over the last couple hours, Chekov’s mood had improved vastly. Scotty knew that Pavel was still upset over whatever had happened, but he wasn’t as outright distraught as when he’d first showed up in engineering.

“Haz zhat happened more zhan once?” Chekov questioned, glancing at Scotty in concern.

“No, but I just had a repair crew up there last week, said they fixed the problem.” Scotty grumbled, eyes skimming over the readout. “Must be a faulty conduit, shoulda been replaced, not repaired, but everything non vital got put on the backburner with that whole computer virus thing. No wonder all that got done was a patch job.”

“Zhere is plenty of time to repair eet now.” Chekvo suggested.

“Tha’ there is, but getting there means crawling through a whole mess of maintenance shafts. I got a few new recruits here, this would be a good way for some of them to get to know this ship a wee bit better.”

Chekov sniggered. He knew Scotty was reluctant to leave his engineering room when the Enterprise was on a mission. Even one as simple as orbiting a planet. Missions tended not to go according to plan more often than not. “Zhat is a good idea.” He agreed, playing along as he entered the necessary repair order into a data padd. “Vhich is zhe lucky team?”

“Either Johnson and Letty. Neither of their groups is working on anything urgent at the moment, they could both use the practice, and they’ve both got a newbie in their crew. All of ‘em are old hat at Starfleet, aye, but the Enterprise is advanced enough they’ll all needta get hands on to really know her.”

Pavel chuckled at Scotty’s monologue, already heading away as the man kept talking. He knew the chief engineer would go on for ages about ships if he sat around long enough to listen, which he often did. Chekov made his way towards Johnson’s group, he liked Letty enough not to make her crawl all over the maintenance hatches for a single minor repair like this.

Chekov found Johnson easily enough, but it was the person he was talking to that made Chekov feel numb. His fingers tightened reflexively on the data padd he carried, and he had to force himself to keep walking forward. Johnson had spotted him, but so had Jameson, and it was Jameson who began walking his way after saying something to Johnson.

Pav took a breath, trying to calm or prepare himself, he wasn’t sure which. He held the data padd towards Jameson without thought, words tumbling awkwardly from his mouth. “A vork order, for zhe faulty conduit on deck fifteen. From mister Scotty.”

There was a long silence, to Chekov it felt like it lasted for hours. He didn’t like Jameson and Jameson didn’t like him, and they both knew it.

“You’re still here, huh? Figured they’da shipped you back home by now.” Jameson commented with a scoff, staring with a haughty dislike at Chekov as he took the data padd.

The insult stung more than Chekov cared to admit, though he’d heard worse before. The crew here on the Enterprise, however, had thus far been more accepting and Pav had gotten used to the lack of antagonistic comments.

He didn’t say anything in response, couldn’t get his throat to make a noise or brain to focus on a thought. It was like every other interaction he’d had with Jameson back on the Indiana, paralyzed by the fear that he might do or say something that would cause Hikaru pain.

It didn’t matter that it had been over two years since he’d seen the man, it didn’t matter that he was part of the senior bridge crew on this ship. It felt like he was fifteen again, powerless and helpless to help his only friend.

So, Chekov didn’t say a word. Just turned on his heels and walked away, flushing red hearing Jameson chuckling behind him as he left.

In the back of his mind, Chekov had known that if Sulu were here, his Alpha would be here too. How many times had his query about transferring Sulu to the Enterprise been answered with the excuse that there just wasn’t a position for both, and they wouldn’t split them up? That had always been the answer.

He’d seen Sulu only a couple of hours ago, he should have realized by now that Jameson would be here. In engineering. It’s what the man’s specialty was after all.

Chekov could tell that Scotty knew something was off when he came back. Scotty was looking him over with that worried frown, probably trying to figure out what could have possibly happened in the two minutes that he’d been gone.

Scotty would probably put it together, but Chekov didn’t care. Scotty was his closest friend on the ship, for all that Pavel couldn’t bring himself to label the man his _best_ friend. A part of him still held onto that being Karu’s spot. But Chekov trusted Scotty, knew he could confide in him.

Chekov moved over to the open console, squatting down to continue where he’d left off earlier. “I was zhinking zhat we could probably improve zhe energy output by rerounting zhese conduits.” He suggested, keeping his focus on the wiring and his work.

There was a long pause, long enough that he knew Scotty was onto what he was doing, and wasn’t going to just drop the whole issue forever. Some of the tension left Pavel’s chest once Scotty knelt down beside him to take a look, nodding in agreement. “Aye, that’ll work for sure. Gonna be a might bit of rewiring to get it all done. Should give us all something to do while the Enterprise is in orbit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoohoo! Another Chapter!   
> Bonus, this one got finished early! I had meant to finish it by the end of this week, but it's done now, so all you fine readers get it now!  
> AND maybe another one end of the week too!


	8. Talos IV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was planning to post this chapter this weekend, but the next few days got really busy. So, you get it now, but I haven't read it over sixteen million times to find all the typos and such.  
> But I figured, go ahead and post it, or I'll forget and it'll be two weeks before I remember to put it here.

Flying the shuttle, getting out of the Enterprise (for all that he’d literally just boarded the ship less than 24 hours ago), being on an away mission in general, was a breath of fresh air for Hikaru. He hadn’t been out like this since…. Well, since back at the academy when they ran little milk run missions. Basically practice for when they graduated, but an opportunity to complete a real task for Starfleet for once.

He felt calm and relaxed for once, even with Spock there. Now that he thought about it, Spock’s presence actually helped. He was an Alpha, something that always made Hikaru nervous now a days, but he was also a Vulcan, a race known for there solid control. Glancing over at the first officers calm form was reassuring in a way Hikaru only remember from when he was a kid.

It made the mission almost impossibly simple. Hikaru was calm, relaxed, and confident in his own abilities. Flying the shuttle to the planet went smoothly, and landing was as simple as breathing for him.

Once she shuttle was settled and powered down, Sulu set about helping the others unload the cargo. He picked up a container, following one of the redshirts out (he hadn’t learned their names). The base on Talos was standard, a mix of human colonists and a few of the local people. What was not standard, was how well armed everyone from Talos seemed to be.

They weren’t acting aggressive but appeared to be on guard. Spock and the rest of the Starfleet crewmen noticed it too, Sulu watched a couple of them hesitate before continuing to unload the medicine at the direction of the medics. Hikaru followed suit, the main concern being to get the sick colonists treated as soon as possible to get the results back to the ship, but he kept an eye on the situation.

Spock was heading straight towards the one who appeared to be in charge of their security detail, so Sulu could be assured at least someone would maybe know what was going on soon. For now, Sulu tried not too worry too much about it. Instead, he just made sure to keep aware of his surroundings and be as helpful as he could.

The transition from landing site to the medical facility went quickly, if a little strained for the Enterprise crew. The medics and people seemed genuinely grateful for the help, but the armed guard was off-putting.

Neither Spock, nor anyone else, had come to mention anything about taking the shuttles back up to the Enterprise, so Sulu was effectively stuck on Talos for the time being. Despite the circumstance, and the constant pretense of armed guards, it was kind of fun. It was a somber atmosphere in the medical facility, sure, but the Enterprise crew seemed interested in getting to know him.

Hikaru knew it couldn’t last, knew that things would inevitably go back to the status quo once he was back on board with Jameson to scare of any potential friends. He just felt so much like his old self, he didn’t want to think about later. These were new people, new co-workes, they didn’t look at him the same way as everyone on the Indiana had.

Not yet, a part of him whispered, but he decisively ignored that, focusing instead on helping one of the Ensigns and local medics running diagnostics and prepare the results for McCoy.

A few hours later, Hikaru wasn’t sure since time flew so quickly with how busy they’d all been, when one of the chief medics from the facility approached him with a worried frown. “Lt. Sulu, yes?” He questioned, tone high and ragged.

He continued speaking almost before Sulu had finished nodding an affirmative. “Good. Here are the results for your doctor McCoy. The sooner he gets them, the sooner he can come down here and help.” The man held out a data padd, nearly shoving it into Sulu’s hands in his hurry. “I tried sending them myself, but our communications are malfunctioning. Or so they tell me. And I can’t find your Commander Spock anywhere. I’m busy with patients to treat and I can’t go running willy nilly trying to find him to get this data to your ship.”

Hikaru nodded along, trying to find an opening to break in. The man was sounding more and more frantic with every passing word. “Don’t worry, sir, I’ll find Commander Spock and make sure this reaches the Enterprise as soon as possible.”

The medic let out a relieved sigh and a heart felt “thank you” before hurrying away.

More pleased than he cared to admit having done something good for someone, Hikaru set off in search of Spock. Hopefully he could find him quickly, thought if worst came to worst, he could just take the shuttle back up.

The medic had mentioned the communications was malfunctioning, so the first place Hikaru decided to look was the comm station. It was easy enough to get directions, and a few minutes later he was walking down an empty hall, approaching the room in question.

Even before he got there, he could see the familiar color of the Starfleet uniform. Spock’s back was to the doorway, and he appeared to be looking over a readout of some kind.

“Commander,” Sulu began as he entered the room and looked over to Spock, “the medicines have been administered and the medics here have the data to send, but the comm lines are down.”

“I am attempting to repair them now, though these reading indicate there is no interference.” Spock replied, brow furrowing at the panel in front of him.

Hikaru began heading over to Spock, but had only gotten a few steps before there was a loud explosion, distant, but still close enough that the floors shook and the lights flickered. Spock looked up from the panel, gaze meeting with Sulu’s but before either of them could say or do anything there was another explosion, this one louder and closer.

Dust fell from the ceiling and one of the light fixtures shattered, spraying sparks across the room momentarily. The floor shook harder this time, enough so both officers stumbled. Hikaru was still regaining his balance when there was a third, close enough he could see the flash of light, the explosion leaving his ears ringing.

For a long minute, there was just bright light, a loud ringing in his ears, and the cold floor beneath him. When his senses came back to him, there was a fog of dust in the air, the one working light in the room flickering quickly for a moment before stabilizing. The other was spitting sparks again, but seemed to be tapering out.

Sulu groaned at the new aches he could already feel, rubbing his head as he slowly pushed himself to his feet. Sulu coughed, scanning the room for Spock. The commander looked unharmed and was already getting to his feet as well.

“Do things usually go this well on missions?” Hikaru joked, a tension breaking habit he’d thought had been trained out of him. This was certainly an eventful first week on the Enterprise crew. He did a mental tally of any injuries as he went to investigate the doorway and was certain he hadn’t gotten anything worse than some more bruises and a few scrapes.

“Though mathematically improbably, this type of occurrence does, indeed, happen frequently enough to be labeled ‘usual’.” Spock replied, much to Hikaru’s surprise.

Sulu glanced over as the Vulcan joined him, motioning to the blocked doorway. “The debris is all on the other side, but still makes the door impassable. And I don’t think we can get any leverage to move much of it from here.”

“Agreed.” Spock stated, also inspecting the blockage. “It would appear we must find an alternate solution.”

Hikaru nodded in agreement. He had no desire to simply sit here trapped in this room waiting. Someone had caused those explosions and the last thing they needed was to have those people be the ones to find them unarmed in this room.

The room wasn’t that large to begin with, but the two of them set off searching. Hikaru scouted along the walls, hoping to find some cracks indicating weakness, hoping that they could maybe rig something to make a new door.

He wasn’t having much luck at all when Spock called out to him.

“Mister Sulu, I believe I have found a suitable opening.”

Hikaru glanced over to find the Commander near the far end of the room, looking upward, and quickly headed over to join him.

Overhead, there was a hole in the ceiling leading to the floor above. It was jagged in shape, bent pieces of rebar sticking out from the concrete, but was not, thankfully, completely out of reach.

“That’ll probably work.” Hikaru reasoned, eyeing the hole and gauging whether he’d actually be able to make it. It looked like it would be close, but he was confident he could do it. “But you’re the only one of us that has the strength to boost a person up that high.” The problem after that being how to get Spock up after.

“Which is why you are going first.” Spock stated, linking his hands in front of him in preparation. “If you can find a cord or similar material of appropriate length to tie off, I will climb up after. If you cannot, attempt to find the rest of the crew.”

“Yes, sir.” Hikara said. He ignored the expected spark of anxiety as he stepped up, putting his hands on Spocks shoulders for stability. Spock was the most even tempered Alpha in existence, but it was still boarder line terrifying to get so close to him.

There wasn’t the typical count of three, Sulu was too paranoid around Alpha’s to volunteer it and it didn’t occur to Spock, but Hikaru was able to get the timing right despite that. He jumped up with the boost from the Vulcan, grabbing at the edge of the flooring above.

One hand sent a scattering of dust and concrete down below, the other finding solid purchase. Hikaru cursed under his breath, adrenaline flooding his system as he solidified his grip with both hands.

Grunting with effort, he managed to pull himself up, rolling on his back on the solid floor and panting a few quick breaths. Recreational climbing never going to be a hobby for him. The sensation of losing a grip and almost falling… not fun.

After a moment, he rolled over to peer down below, the floor had already proven somewhat unstable so he wasn’t going to risk standing. Spock’s dust covered form looked up at him from beneath. “I will attempt to clear the entrance from this side in the event you are unable to find suitable material to climb.”

“Alright.” Sulu replied, taking a quick glance around. “I don’t see anything in the immediate area. I’ll keep looking while I search for the others.”

Spock gave a short nod before turning and walking out of Sulu’s vision. Alright Karu, he thought to himself, first solo mission in years, you got this. He shifted away from the opening, noticing how even that little bit of movement scattered more dust down below. Once he was a safe distance away, he stood up and dusted his uniform off as he began walking.

Priority, since there wasn’t any rope like material just laying around to get Spock out, was to find the missing crew. First, he needed to get to the floor below, that was where any of the crew should be located. Plan in mind, Hikaru made his way down the hall, keeping a sharp eye as he walked.

The entire building must have taken damage, going by the debris all along the floor and the panels of broken or flickering lights. It made Sulu think of those ancient old type horror films, much to his discomfort.

He didn’t find any rope like items while he searched for stairs, but he did come across a body. The boots were the only thing visible at first, the rest of the form covered by a bit of broken wall. Hikaru hurried over, though he knew in the back of his mind it was already too late for this person.

He moved the rubble off, feeling a guilty bit of relief that it wasn’t any of the four other crewmen that had come down on the shuttles to help with the cargo. The uniform didn’t match those of the colonists they’d come to help or that of the indigenous people of this planet, so it was likely that this person was responsible for the explosions. As if that wasn’t enough, there were signs of phaser fire, which meant there was still some conflict going on.

That was going to make things more difficult and add a bit of urgency to his objective. Multiple explosions like that took a team to put in place, and whoever these renegades were, Hikaru had a feeling they were the shoot first, don’t ask questions at all types. If they were to come across a Starfleet office, trapped alone and unarmed, such as Commander Spock…

Hikaru needed to get moving.

He also needed to not get immediately caught, his gold uniform would stand out a mile away. He knelt down beside the body for a moment, taking the grayish brown cloak-like part of the man’s uniform. It wouldn’t fool anyone up close, but it would help him blend in a little better so he might slip past unnoticed.

Disguised as well as he could hope for, Hikaru started moving again, this time at a quicker pace. Find some stairs to get to the first floor, find the other crew, get Spock out. Easy, right?


	9. According to Plan

Finding the staircase to the floor below proved to be laughably easy. There was a helpful little sign pointing the way a few yards ahead. He followed the sign down the hall a fair good distance, took a right, and then halfway down _that_ hall was the stairs.

Hikaru entered the stairway cautiously, doing his best to keep the doorway from making any noise as it opened and closed. He tested the stairs before putting his full weight on them, not wanting to find out the structure was damaged by falling straight through.

It felt solid enough, so Sulu crept down them, peeking around the corner and keeping low as he exited onto the lower level. He didn’t see anyone, so he made his way quietly down the corridor. He stopped at a corner, hearing a short electric burst and a sharp curse soon after. Crouching low to the ground, he peered around to see someone standing in front of an open control panel.

The man messing with the panel had on a completely different type uniform than the one Sulu had found upstairs, though the insignia was the same. So much for his disguise, wouldn’t do much good if they didn’t have a uniform.

Hikaru shrugged the cloak off, gently laying it on the floor. Not too much of a loss, he thought to himself as he began moving towards the rebel, clashed with my Starfleet uniform anyway.

Whatever the man was doing, it likely wasn’t good. Sulu couldn’t see too much of that panel, but whatever he was doing was starting to cause power fluctuations with the lights and who knew what else. Good news, he was distracted, which gave Hikaru an opportunity to sneak up and hopefully knock him out before he knew what hit him.

He was getting close when the man suddenly went tense. Sulu didn’t know what had given him away, but somehow the man had noticed his approach. Hikaru lunged forward as the rebel spun around, both of them grabbing for the man’s holstered phaser.

They struggled together for a brief moment, each trying to grab both the phaser first. The rebel managed to pull the phaser out of the holster, but lost his grip as Sulu tried to snatch it away. The weapon went flying, scattering across the ground and getting lost in the rubble.

The rebel let out a snarled curse, shoving Hikaru away with surprising force. Sulu stumbled backward, tripping over a large piece of ceiling plaster and falling to the ground. There was the familiar sound of sliding metal and Sulu looked up to see that the phaser was not the only weapon the rebel had on his person.

With a look of fury and rage, the man advanced on him, sword in hand.

Eyes wide, Hikaru blindly reached out, hand landing on cold metal. Acting on instinct, he swung it up defensively, blocking the oncoming blade by inches. There was a scattering of sparks and a grating screech of metal on metal as he deflected the rebel’s blade to the side.

Heart racing, Hikaru rolled to his feet, assuming a defensive stance. He was a bit rusty at fencing, it wasn’t exactly a past time that Jameson approved of after all, so it had been a while since he’d last practiced. Muscle memory was a saving grace, and the fact that his opponent wasn’t extremely skilled wielding the blade.

The rebel’s next strike was clumsy and easily parried. The two traded blows for a few moments, metal clanging as the rebel stubbornly tried to stab or slice Hikaru. Once Sulu saw an opening, he moved into the offensive. He swung at the other man’s arm, hoping to get him to drop his weapon. The other managed to move aside, putting Sulu’s aim off. He still managed to hit, just caught him in the midsection rather than the arm holding the blade.

Hikaru was forced to take a step back when the rebels swiped at him. Apparently having quickly noticed the difference in skill wielding a weapon, the other man rushed forward, taking Sulu by surprise when he dropped the blade in favor of using his fists.

Too slow switching tactics, a right hook caught Sulu on the jaw, sending him back a step. The rebel followed with a fist in his stomach, and Sulu was painfully reminded of the not so healed bruises from Jameson.

He choked on a cough, doubling over at the sudden intense pain. His opponent wasn’t one to let the opportunity pass. The man moved forward, thrusting a knee up sharply into Hikaru’s face and sending him sprawling onto his back.

Hikaru groaned and spat out blood to the side, propping himself up and trying to regain his breath. He was out of weapons and options, the rebel having already reclaimed his blade and begun advancing on him. All Sulu could do was stare up at the man with a glare, hoping to maybe roll to one side or the other to avoid being sliced open.

There was a sound of phaser fire and the man jerked in place, blade falling from his grasp to the ground behind him. Hikaru watched as the rebel fell to his knees before slumping to the side. Behind him stood two of the Starfleet crew that had come to Talos on the shuttles, one with phaser in hand.

The two officers headed over, one going to check the rebel and the other to help Sulu.

Hikaru accepted the hand offered, wincing a little as he got to his feet.

“Thanks.” Sulu said, still a little breathless. He nodded toward the dead rebel. “For sure thought he’d got me there.”

“No problem.” The crewman replied, Allen was his name Sulu remembered. “Me and Jerrel here were looking for any more of them, and the rest of our crew. General thinks there isn’t more than five that were on the strike team that hit the facility. This one there makes four total found, so should be just one left.”

“I found one on the second floor. Few corridors past those stairs there.” Hikaru told him, motioning from where he’d come earlier. “Counted him yet?”

“No.” Allen replied, shaking his head. His shoulders dropped as he let out a relieved sigh. “He’d be the last one then.”

“We should still stay on guard.” Sulu warned. “Even if the General thinks there’s only five, it’s possible there were more.”

Jerrel stood up from where he’d knelt beside the body. “Yeah, but now that the threats likely been dealt with, we can focus on finding our people and restoring communications.”

“Spock’s in the communication’s room, unless someone managed to get him out. The entryway was blocked and the only way out was through the second level floor.” Hikaru filled them in, leading the way towards said communication room. “It was pretty trashed in there after the explosions, so our best chance of getting in touch with the Enterprise is probably the shuttles. Have they been secured?”

“Yes sir,” Jerrel reported, falling in step beside Hikaru as they walked. “We don’t think the attackers expected so much resistance. More of our people were down here helping due to the nature of bringing the medicines down, so it didn’t take long to subdue to insurgents.”

“The medics have the patients all moved to a more secure location and have continued administering treatment.” Allen added.

“Alright.” Sulu nodded decisively. Both of them were looking to him for direction considering he did, technically, outrank them. It was still an odd feeling being in charge. “Jerrel, go to the shuttles and get a message to the Enterprise, update them to our situation. If they could beam down some additional support we could probably use it. Send a couple people to the communications room on the way. Allen and I will start trying to dig Commander Spock out.”

Hoping he wasn’t making a mistake presuming to issue orders, or at least that it never got back to Jameson, Hikaru led the way to the communications room. Unless someone else had found him, the commander was likely still trapped. If they couldn’t move whatever was blocking the room, they’d have to use the ship to transport him up and then back down.

Honestly, that would probably be easier, but they’d probably be busy enough getting additional help and supplied down. In any case, Hikaru hoped to have the Commander out before Jerrel finished making his report.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so even to me it seems kinda random, all this action and Sulu be a (sorta) BA and all that, but I promise there's an actual point to it and a logical explanation! That I shall let you readers figure out for yourselves when those future chapters get finished.


	10. Consequences

The rest of the mission went rather smoothly.

The medical data was transmitted up to the ship, Spock left Sulu to keep an eye on things while he and the General made sure the rebels had been completely swept up. (Later on he would find out the attacked had been motivated by money, of all things.)

Hikaru let the Talos medics look him over and treat his injuries, it was simple enough to let them assume that all the injuries resulted form the explosions earlier that day. Thankfully, it was still fairly chaotic and they didn’t dig too deeply about where all of it came from..

During a short conversation with Spock, the commander mentioned that he would be recommending a commendation for Hikaru, which was about the closest thing to praise he’d received in many a year. It was embarrassing, so he tried to hide it, but it was a delightful feeling. He’d almost say he was happy.

Hikaru opted to stay on the planet to help out the next couple of days, at least one shuttle needed to remain until they could completely repair the bases communications anyway. He avoided McCoy when the CMO showed up to help out, he didn’t want much of anything to do with the grumpy Alpha.

There was still plenty of work to keep him busy until the Enterprise was scheduled to move on. A few days later, Sulu and a couple other crewman were loading onto the shuttle to make their way back to the Enterprise. The empty cargo containers had been beamed up to save time, as well as most of the volunteers that had come to the planet to help.

Back on board the Enterprise, the thick air of tension was gone. The ship was bound for another base in need of the same medicine, but it didn’t feel quite a dire now that they had the correct formula to treat it effectively. There was still a lot of work for the medical crew to do, but the majority of the crew seemed to be in high spirits.

Crewman Jerrel ended up coming to find Sulu nearly as soon as he’d left the shuttle bay, happily chatting to him as they walked down the corridor and entered the lift. It was a little surprising, and Hikaru didn’t have much in the way to add to the conversation. Jerrel didn’t seem to mind, happy enough to get an encouraging smile or a nod every now and then to keep up the flow of conversation.

“Well, hey, this is my stop. But we should hang out sometime, alright? It’s been a hell of a week, but you’re still technically new around here. I’ll show ya all the good hang outs.” Jerrel offered, giving a thumbs up and a short wave as he exited and the doors closed behind him.

Hikaru grinned, waving a farwell as Jerrel walked out of the lift. He hadn’t expected his good mood to last so long after returning to the Enterprise. The fact that so many of the other crewmembers greeted him and spoke to him with a genuine friendliness probably had something to do with it.

Apparently when Jerrel had returned to the ship a couple days ago, he’d been telling people about everything that had happened on the planet. Hikaru wasn’t sure how he was being made the star of the show, but that seemed to be what had happened. And they were giving him a commendation for it?

It was almost too good to be true.

But Spock was the one who had said he would be recommending it, and since it was a largely know fact about Vulcan’s not lying, there it was. Of course, being recommended for one and actually getting one were two different things, but come on. Spock was basically famous, it was pretty much a sure thing.

Hikaru’s grin spread into a smile, an almost foreign feeling of joy and elation spreading through his chest. If he really did get one, it would be his first ever commendation. It was a big deal for him, something to be celebrated, something to…

Hikaru glanced up as the doors to the lift slid open with a slight hiss. The smile melted away quickly, the happy feeling following and swiftly being replaced by a cold fear at the form in the doorway.

Jameson prowled forward, shoving Hikaru against the wall of the lift with a dark look. He glanced over only long enough to press a button, then turned his attention to Sulu. “Did you have _fun_ playing hero down there with that Vulcan, such a desperate little slut for Alpha. Damn, his scent’s all over you… What, did you rub against him?”

Jameson growled lowly, leaning forward even closer and drawing in a deep breath.

Hikaru took a shuddering breath, tilting his head back and looking up at the bright ceiling, baring his neck like Alpha always wanted. If he could just appease him a little, maybe he wouldn’t…

“No, Alpha, I di-“

Jameson cut him off with a back hand, the sharp slap of skin on skin covering the pilot’s yelp. “Don’t you lie to me you fucking slut.” Jameson snarled lowly, grabbing Hikaru by the hair and slamming him back against the wall. “I’ll ask you again, and you damn well better not say no to me again. Were you out there whoring around for another Alpha?”

Sulu opened his mouth, brain kicking into overdrive as he tried to think of the best response. Saying ‘no’ now that Alpha had expressly told him not to do so, would earn him a beating. Likely right then and there and he would have to pray no one else needed the lift until Alpha was done.

Saying ‘yes’ was humiliating and would guarantee that Alpha would be re-staking his claim in his bed that night. Although, sex was likely a definite either way. The only difference between yes and no was whether or not he received a beating here. A ‘no’ would also probably earn him a spot on his knees with Alpha fucking his mouth hard enough to choke him before dragging him to the bedroom.

It was really no choice at all.

“Yes, Alpha.” The words were wooden on his tongue, humiliation burning his neck.

Jameson sneered at him, moving the last few inches closer and licking a long strip across his neck and the Bond scar that was there. “Good boy.”

Hikaru’s stomach rolled, twisting in a dread that maybe Alpha would want him here. Hikaru choked back a fearful whine, closing his eyes and shuddering at Alpha’s aroused scent. However, Jameson didn’t push him to his knees, but stepped back as the doors to the lift opened and walked out of them. He clicked his fingers at the last moment, giving Hikaru only seconds to follow before the doors closed.

Sulu followed obediently a step behind his Alpha, eyes glued to the floor. He couldn’t bring himself to make eye contact with the few crew members they passed. He was afraid and ashamed, and ashamed of being afraid. He hated the thought of the people here looking at him the same way as those on the Indiana had done. Of Pav looking at him that way.

Walking into Alpha’s quarters felt like walking into a black abyss. He’d realized where Alpha was taking him as soon as he’d stepped off the lift, but even knowing didn’t give him any sense of calm. There was only fear and dread and the certainty that nothing would ever change.

Gone was the color and feeling of earlier, the sense of accomplishment. His world was numb as he followed Jameson’s barked orders, mindlessly obeying. It was the closest he’d ever come to truly not feeling, almost as if it wasn’t his body the Alpha would be using. Things would never change, in a way he was worse off now.

He was covering for Jameson, skirting protocol back in medbay, for all that his time on the planet had wrapped that up with no more questions, because what else was there for him to do? Huely and Abbey had all but told him this was status quo, he doubted anyone here would say different. And he couldn’t risk nosing around asking anyway.

The one person who might have made a difference or cared, who had made it a little easier back on the Indiana, he had pushed so far away that nay hope of thought of help from him was null and void. It would only be a matter of time before those friendly crew from just moments ago realized just how worthless he was, how pointless it was to try and be friends with him.

Hikaru knelt in the floor at Jameson’s command, uneasy at the change in expected chain of events. He kept his gaze down, listening to his Alpha’s footsteps pacing. The mood seemed to have changed, and not in a positive way.

“All I’ve heard for days is Sulu this, Sulu that. “You sure have made a spectacle of yourself, haven’t you.” Jameson scoffed, circling around Hikaru. “As if anything you did was something to brag about.”

“They’re giving me a commendation.” Sulu stated near tonelessly, if it weren’t for the barest hint of defiance. He’d done something well for a change and he wanted so badly to hold onto that.

He regretted speaking immediately as Jameson strode forward and backhanded him viciously. “Did I say you could speak?!” Jameson snarled.

Sulu fell sideways from the force, having to put a hand out to catch himself before he hit the floor face first. A second later, without any pause, the air left his lungs from a kick to his midsection, throwing him completely to the floor.

Hikaru scrambled to get back to his knees at the throaty growl coming from above him. It was difficult to catch his breath, his heart pounding as he knelt and waited obediently. Sulu’s hands were shaking, fisted against his thighs in an effort not to wrap themselves around the firey pain in his ribs. The medics on the planet had done a good job, he'd been nearly pain free for the past day and a half, making this fresh injury somehow harder to cope with quickly.

“Don’t get so cocky. Think what you did was some grand thing? It’s not.” Jameson spat, grabbing a fistful of Sulu’s hair and jerking his head back. “You’re an Omega, so of course the set the bar lower. Any of the other crew did any of that, you think they’d need a commendation? Hell no. Only reason they’d even give a worthless thing like you a commendation cuz you managed to not completely fuck it all up while only being an Omega.”

Jameson shoved him forward, pressing Sulu flat on the floor and putting a hand on the back of his neck. “Omega’s are only good for one thing, and it’s not running around on mission putting good officers at risk.”

Hikaru closed his eyes, trying not to feel, not to listen. It was difficult, as always, to let his mind just drift. Jameson was never gently, especially when he was so riled up. In terms of going down in his head, of letting time just drift, biology was on Sulu’s side. A part of him hated it, it’s what made this whole mess possible, but a part of him was grateful for it.

He felt what Jameson was doing, and it hurt as always, but during he could take a step away from the emotional pain of it. It always made it worse later, back in his own quarters, the memory of what happened fresh in his mind.

His body would be expecting something, a balance for the natural hormones created it created. He vaguely remembered something about that being taught in school. It was the reason Alpha’s and Omega’s were paired in Starfleet in the first place.

Not that it mattered, because he never got it. Supposedly, that was dangerous, but having a bond only made it severely uncomfortable. Shakes, cold sweat, and vomiting were the worst of what he could expect, thanks to this little scar on his neck.

Sulu didn’t move even when Jameson stood up off of him. His body and mind felt a cold terrifying numbness, a void of emotion or feeling. Distantly, he heard Jameson speaking, a sharp order of dismissal before the Alpha turned and walked away.

Hikaru pulled himself to his feet, sound coming back slowly, building into a high ringing silence before the sound of his own labored breath broke through. He staggered towards the door, pausing halfway as he remembered to make himself presentable enough to be walking around.

The quiet hiss of the door opening sounded like a siren and Sulu winced, glancing behind him afraid he might have disturbed Alpha. Might have attracted his attention again. It was an empty room behind him, dark and silent.

Hikaru focused his attention forward, wanting nothing more than to be in the relative safety of his own quarters.

It had always been stressful enough doing this on the Indiana, making his way to his own room in this state. That crew had been completely Beta, besides himself and Jameson, and he he’d known that none of them would look twice at him. They’d never really interacted with him in general.

But this was a new crew, a new ship.

He didn’t expect any different from them than those on the Indiana, not really. Even with as friendly as they’d been after Talos, it was only a matter of time before it went back to normal. Normal most likely being they ignored him.

Sulu shook his head, forcing himself to get moving. He put an hand on the wall, hoping the tactile sensation of the cool metal would help ground him, at least long enough to get to his room. He got past the first turn in the corridor before that stopped working.

He didn’t want to stop, he was too afraid he wouldn’t get moving again if he did. Sulu’s head was spinning, and he leaned against the wall slightly as he walked to guide himself. Every step was an effort, though focusing on each step kept him moving.

He was only halfway to his destination when he came to a stop, his path blocked. He glanced up, forcing himself to focus, at least, briefly on a face he’d seen only a handful of times.


	11. Late Night for All

Late nights weren’t exactly unknown to Montgomery Scott, and ever since the arrival of the two newest crewmembers, he’d had a fair few late nights just talking with Chekov.

Poor lad was still upset over their new pilot. Scotty could understand, it was difficult losing a friend. It was hard, harder still when you were forced to work with that friend every day, side by side, in near perfect silence. The chief engineer counted it good luck that Chekov had been spared that the last few days, since Sulu had been down on the planet.

Things would go back to normal soon, however, and Scotty worried about Pavel. He hoped that this Hikaru would get his head out of his arse and at least talk to the Russian instead of shutting him out completely. It was frustrating, but Chekov wouldn’t hear a word against the man for it. Seeing how much it affected the navigator, Scotty was nearly ready to corner Sulu himself and give him a piece of his mind about it.

Scotty stopped dead as he turned the corner, jaw nearly dropping in shock. There was their new pilot, the lone Omega on the ship, wandering down the corridor like a zombie. Scotty didn’t know all that much about Omega’s, but he knew how to tell when one was still down in that headspace of theirs. He’d never actually seen it, but most of the times just knowing the signs was enough to point out the obvious.

The Asian was leaning slightly on the wall with one shoulder as he walked, like he couldn’t manage to remain standing without it. He looked very pale and shaky, like he’d gone weeks without going down with an Alpha. That shouldn’t be possible because Scotty knew for a fact that the pilot was bonded with one of his new engineers, Jameson.

Scotty hadn’t gotten a good read on that Jameson just yet, it had only been a few weeks since he’d joined the crew after all. And busy weeks at that. Going by what little he’d heard from Chekov yesterday and all the days prior, he had an inkling he wouldn’t like the man. And if this was how he let his Bonded Omega, someone who he should care about, wander around, well… Scotty had a mind to give someone a talking too.

He'd had that thought in his head even before seeing this. Chekov was uncharacteristically vague and elusive on what he said, and how he spoke, about the new Alpha engineer. Considering the many days and nights they’d had to chat while the Enterprise orbited around Talos, that was saying something. Other than a general dislike of Jameson, and a begrudgingly given admission that the Alpha dislike Pavel very strongly, Scotty hadn’t gotten any real clear answer as to why Chekov had been so upset by him.

Now that he thought about it, it was a little odd how Chekov had never so much as mentioned Jameson’s name in all the time he’d ever spoken of Sulu. The pilot had been Pav’s best friend, given how the kid had spoken of him, and Jameson was obviously a large part of the pilot’s life. If he took what he saw here and what little Chekov had let slip, the picture put a bad taste in his mouth.

Especially when he tried to tie in all the things that some of the crew had been talking about concerning said pilot and the very recent mission on Talos. The descriptions of the confident pilot helping take down some sort of insurgents didn’t sound like it would apply to this zombie of a man stumbling his way down the hall.

Though, he should probably ask some questions first, because coming between a Bonded pair was going to be messy and was not something one did without any forethought. Besides, it wasn’t like he could just leave the poor man here like this. Scotty moved along the wall toward Sulu, slowing to a stop once the Omega noticed his presence. Hikaru looked up at him, gaze distant and unfocused. After a moment he seemed to realize something and dropped his gaze. “S-sorry…”

The apology was barely audible, Sulu’s voice was troublingly scratchy, and Scotty frowned in concern at the shivers going through Sulu’s frame. Hikaru straightened from the wall, making as if to move toward the center of the corridor and out of Scotty’s way. He didn’t get very far as he stumbled at the attempt, tilting clumsily back to his original position and letting out a tired breath.

“Ey, easy now. You alright, laddie?” Scotty asked, twitching with an aborted motion to help the man. Something told him that touch, at this point, wouldn’t go over well.

“No, no… I’m… I’m fine, thank you sir.” Sulu responded slowly, words coming out in a choppy mechanical way.

“No offense laddie, but ye’ look like death warmed ov’r. Least lemme help ya where it is you’re goin.” Scotty stated, all prior irritation at the man having vanished. How could he stay angry at someone so completely opposite of the picture he'd subconsciously formed. His words got no reaction from the Omega, not even a glance. There was a glazed look to Hikaru and Scotty would guess the man had already forgotten about his presence.

Scotty was no Alpha, Beta through and through thank you much, but he’d been on the receiving end of many an Alpha’s booming orders growing up, so it wasn’t too difficult to mimic the Dom tone in order to get Sulu’s attention and cooperation. Sure, he felt a little bad for manipulating the man on such a basic, instinctual level, but the alternative was to let him collapse in the corridor.

“Lieutenant.” Scotty barked out authoritatively. Predictably, Sulu’s gaze snapped over to his immediately, eye’s wide in surprise and confusion. It was enough to keep the Omega’s attention, even though the dominant tone quickly vanished. “Lemme escort you where e’er it is yer goin’ laddie.”

It was, beyond a doubt, the weirdest thing Hikaru had ever experienced. The chief engineer was a Beta, he was positive, but he’d sounded just like an Alpha for a moment. It hadn’t lasted, but Sulu wished his rapidly beating heart would get the drift and calm down already. He was relieved that Scotty was offering him an option as to where he was going. He’d wanted to avoid the man’s interest in case he decided he knew best and that Hikaru should spend some more ‘quality time’ with his Alpha.

The last thing Hikaru wanted was to go back to Alpha.

But for whatever reason, Scotty was offering to let him go anywhere. Wary of what the man might do if he refused again, Hikaru’s only option was to agree.

“Yes, sir. Thank you.” Hikaru answered, fumbling for the correct response. He wasn’t used to Beta’s paying any attention to him. They never had on the Indiana. He’d gotten used to the only interaction between himself and the crew being while on shift. Or when Leo came to drag him to Alpha when he wasn’t quick enough getting there. “I- I was just… heading to my quarters.”

Scotty nodded agreeably, stepping aside to give Hikaru room to keep walking. After a beat of hesitation, the pilot did exactly that. For a bit, Scotty walked along beside Sulu, easily keeping up with the man’s painfully slow pace. He could all but feel the tension in the Omega increasing with each silent step, so he started talking in hopes of relieving the awkwardness.

“Bit o’ a mess down in engineering t’day. Anti-matter conduits were actin up again. The Enterprise is a right stubborn lass when she wants ta be, but we got it straightened out in the end. Just next you’re flyin’ her, go easy on the jump to warp, give her a little more leeway than usual.” Scotty let the words roll easily off his tongue.

He could talk about this ship, or any ship really, for hours if a body would let him. Scotty could already feel his own tension easing, hoped that it wasn’t just wishful thinking that he got the same feeling for Sulu. As a general rule, he figured pilots usually like ships too, so he hoped the neutral topic was as relaxing for Hikaru as it was for him.

Either way, by the time they made it to Sulu’s quarters Scotty was pleased to see that the pilot no longer looked like he was a million miles into his own head. Scotty inclined his head in acceptance of the mutter thanks from Sulu, then stepped back when the man opened the door to his quarters. Hikaru was giving him a nervous, suspicious look, and Scotty had a sinking feeling that the pilot was waiting for him to ask for something in return. Or some other nonsense of the sort.

Scotty didn’t know what to say in the face of that, so he simply made a sort of shooing motion towards Sulu, then turned and went on his way.

It was difficult to reconcile this Hikaru with the one that Pavel used to talk about so often, and the one the crew had been talking about from Talos. It was like night and day, and it was bloody suspicious.


	12. Wash, Rinse, Repeat

“You should be more grateful.” Jameson growled as he rolled off of Sulu, standing up from the bed now that he was finished.

Three days hadn’t been enough to cool Alpha’s irritation. Hikaru had been careful to keep his head down, easy enough to do with the new focus being an outbreak of the same sickness on a federation base a few days travel away. It was where the Enterprise was currently headed. Hikaru had done nothing except do his job while on shift, eat (sometimes), sleep (again, sometimes), and show up at Jameson’s quarters when the Alpha called for him.

It hadn’t been a pleasant few days, but attempting to mollify an angry Alpha never was.

“Sorry, Alpha.” Hikaru apologized, not sure whether he should be terrified or not that Jameson was talking instead of yelling at him to get out. Not that he took the time to dwell on it. A lecturing Alpha gave him more time to get his sore, uncooperative body moving and dressed, but he risked Jameson talking around into another reason to punish him.

“I mean, come on. I know there are more Alpha’s around, and you just can’t help throwing yourself at ‘em. It’s biology, so I gotta keep you in line.” Jameson commented, pausing for a moment to watch Sulu. He prowled around the room toward the Omega, snapping his fingers expectantly and smirked when the other dropped to his knees.

Hikaru was half dressed and shivering, wanting nothing more than to get out of here and into the privacy of his own quarters to deal with the drop in safety, but he knew better than to defy Jameson. He kept his gaze averted, even when Jameson grabbed a handful of his hair, tilting his head back.

“See, you should be grateful you belong to me.” Jameson told him, crouching closer and running his tongue over the bond scar and up Hikaru’s neck before sucking harshly at the sensitive skin under his jaw. He chuckled as the pained whine this drew from Sulu, pulling back and looking approvingly over the shaking form of his Omega. “We wouldn’t want any other Alpha’s to think you were available, it might start a fight. Though, those three are close enough, they might just all share you.”

Jameson sniffed in distaste, standing up and shoving Sulu near sprawling in the process. “Much as my little whore Omega might like that, you just remember who you belong to. Now, get out.”

Hikaru scrambled into the rest of his uniform, in a rush to obey the Alpha’s dismissal before the man could either change his mind or lose his temper. In a matter of moments, Jameson’s door was sliding closed behind Hikaru, and he could only hope the Alpha wouldn’t bother with him any more tonight.

Sulu could already feel the familiar ringing in his ears and hollowness in his chest, and he knew the walk back to his quarters wasn’t going to be a fun one. Not that it was fun any times he’d left Alpha’s quarters, but he generally tried to get to his own room before he got to this part of the process.

He’d barely made it past the first turn when Scotty appeared beside him causing Sulu to nearly jumped out of his skin.

“Mind if I walk with ya?” Scotty asked lightly, contemplating offering an arm for Sulu to steady himself on. Going by the pilot’s skittish body language, he didn’t think that would be a good idea. “You’re bout the only one ‘ll listen to me drone on and on.”

“Uh, yeah.” Sulu agreed after a long moment’s hesitation. Despite not understand _why_ the chief engineer wanted to walk with him, he'd gotten a little used to it. Scotty had shown up the last two days to walk him to his quarters. “If.. if it helps, yeah, you can.. walk with me. Yeah.”

Scotty nodded, still worried about the man, but a little relieved his was a bit more lucid than he’d been the last time he’d found Sulu wandering out into the corridor this late at night.

~ _next day_ ~

Hikaru hadn’t really had a moment to himself since the first day he’d come aboard the Enterprise. After the first couple hours, he’d had to be on shift, seen by medical, and been on the away mission. Once he’d come back from that, Alpha hadn’t really left him alone for long enough to say he had any downtime. Not in his opinion anyway.

Which made him all the more grateful that he was off shift while Alpha was down in engineering pulling a double shift to cover an injured coworker. And so he found himself sitting blissfully alone, in silence, on Deck 5 watching the starts fly by.

“Lt. Sulu!”

Sulu tensed as his name was called, hearing footsteps approaching soon after. He glanced up to see none other than the Captain headed his way.

“Mind if I join you?” Kirk asked, stopping by the table and grinning at Hikaru.

Sulu nodded without thought, sitting up straighter as the captain took a seat. The man started talking nearly as soon as he’d sat down, not that Hikaru was paying much attention at all. He was quickly rethinking the wisdom of sitting alone here on Deck 5. Of all the people who could have come by, it had to be Kirk. Jameson was already irritated enough with how that chief engineer, Scotty, had shown some interest in him for some reason and it didn’t help that Chekov was close friends to Scotty.

He’d thought he’d caught a break, Alpha had summoned him to his quarters but in the three minutes it took to walk there, had changed his mind. Jameson’s doors had opened just a moment before Hikaru had been about to approach, the Alpha striding out with a snarled “get lost, I don’t have time for you right now.”

It wasn’t something that happened often, but it had happened before. It wasn’t until nearly an hour later he discovered the cause this time. He hadn’t wanted to go back to his own quarters, he’d only have driven himself crazy sitting there worrying about Jameson’s mood upon returning, so he’d ventured out.

He’d dodged the attentions of one Alpha only to have to deal with another. And the captain was sitting right next to him, there was no way that Alpha wouldn’t catch his scent…

Not that he could tell Kirk to move away, nor could he move away himself. Either one would be an insult to the man, surely, and he wasn’t about to face the consequences of that. Didn’t Kirk understand that he was Bonded, why did the man even bother? Maybe Jameson was right after all…

“I’ve never actually met an Omega before.” Kirk was chattering, seemingly unaffected by Hikaru’s stiff attitude. “There aren’t really all that many in Starfleet, and I don’t get off the ship much. So, if I’m being too… me, well, just let me know. So, I guess, round way of saying it, but sorry for making you uncomfortable teasing you.”

Sulu nodded, not making eye contact and resisting the urge to try and tug the collar of his shirt to cover the bruise on his neck. He should probably feel lucky Alpha hadn’t really been trying, or he’d have another scar instead of a bruise. “Omega’s don’t normally serve more than one Alpha.” He stated bluntly, hoping it wasn’t something disrespectful but would be enough to let the captain know that Jameson wasn’t one to share. Jameson had reacted negatively enough with Hikaru simply working around Spock, so he wanted to do anything and everything he could to mitigate or prevent that happening again.

Kirk pulled back slightly, brow furrowing as he tilted his head in confusion. There was just so much wrong with that statement he wasn’t sure where to start.

It made him pause and run back through this entire interaction. Sulu’d been stiff and silent for most of the one sided conversation, but he couldn’t figure out what had prompted the statement he’d made.

“Right…” He said slowly, not really understanding. He shook his head once, deciding to change the subject. “Anyway, I needed to speak with you. We had been scheduled to stop at Starbase 41 and I had contacted the admiral there about that commendation Spock recommended, but as you know, we received an urgent call for more of this same medicine on the planet near quadrant six. So, we’ll have to postpone that ceremony.”

“It’s fine, actually. I’d prefer not to make a big deal out of it, if that’s possible?” Hikaru stated. He was glad for the change of topic, and the chance to avoid anyone making a big deal out of something he’d done. Alpha was already irritated enough at him, he didn’t need to cause any more of a commotion.

“Oh,” Kirk paused, surprised. From the stories he’d heard about Sulu from Chekov in the past, that didn’t seem completely in line with his character. “If that’s what you want…”

“Yes, Captain, I would prefer it.”

“Alright.” Kirk shrugged, giving his newest pilot a critical look over. “Anyway, enough about all this serious business. I wanna get to know you. I usually try and have a chat with all my new crewmen, but with the emergency, I haven’t had a chance.”

Grateful again for yet another change in topic, though the look he was getting from the captain made him anxious, Sulu put on a smile when he answered. “Not much interesting about me. I’m a pilot who can fly just about anything.”

“Yeah? Come on, there’s gotta be a story behind that.” Kirk pressed. He didn’t usually have to try this hard to get people to open up. The last time someone had been this closed off had been Chekov, when the Russian had first come aboard.

Hikaru started to shrug but caught himself midmotion. He tried to relax, reluctantly explaining further. “It… started out as a way to keep busy I guess, and I found that I really enjoyed it. Learning how different ships operated and handled.”

“I can’t complain. Makes you more than qualified for this post.” Kirk grinned, his cheer a little forced in the face of the awkward tension coming from Sulu. “What about hobbies? Or are you like Scotty, always about the ship?”

“Uh, botany, I guess. I had a little garden, kinda, back on the Indiana.” Hikaru’s gaze slid away from Kirk, moving over towards the exit. He wanted nothing more than to just get the hell outta here because there was no way this wasn’t going to end poorly for him.

Hikaru wasn’t sure whether it was a blessing or a curse when the door he was staring at slid open to reveal Chekov. He knew he had no right to hope, or even wish, but he was past desperate and about a minute away from possibly panicking. So, this time, he caught Pavel’s gaze and held it, hoping that maybe, just maybe, the navigator would get him out of this mini interrogation.

After a second, Sulu had to look back toward the Captain, though he’d missed whatever it was that the man had said in response to his statement. Kirk was looking at him expectantly and Sulu had no idea what he was supposed to be saying, but then miracle of miracles, Chekov appeared beside them both.

“Keptain, sorry to interrupt, but vould you mind eef I borrowed zhe lieutenant? Mister Scott vanted me to compare an anomaly in zhe varp output wizh zhe flight log.”

Hikaru held himself still, his entire being wanting nothing more than to stand up and just _leave_. He waited, however, eyes on Kirk in the short silence that followed Chekov’s question. For whatever reason, the Alpha seemed surprised as the request, and for a moment Hikaru was worried that the Captain might be upset at Chekov having come over, whatever the reason.

It wasn’t totally impossible, Jameson had gotten angry over less.

Much to Sulu’s relieve, Kirk merely smiled and nodded. “Sure, no problem.”

Hikaru stood up at those words, though his overwhelming desire to get away from the Alpha was mitigated by curiosity. Kirk had sounded… pleased? Smug? Sulu wasn’t sure what to label that tone, but somehow, he was happy about something.

Whatever the reason, Sulu didn’t dwell on it for long. He was just glad to be out of whatever the hell that situation was. Sulu kept his eyes to the floor, unable to look up at Chekov as the two of them exited into the corridor. Only when the doors had shut behind them did he take in a breath and glance up. “So, what’s this anomaly that happened? I didn’t notice anything on shift.”

“Ah…” Chekov flushed red, biting his tongue and looking up at the ceiling. “about zhat…”

Hikaru huffed out a short laugh, amused despite the tension. “Thanks for bailing me out just… … don’t get in trouble for me…”

The tone of amusement had been impossibly short lived, but Chekov had _heard_ it. It hurt that it was gone so quickly, but it gave him hope that the friend he remembered was still there, was still his friend. “I von’t, don’t vorry. Zhe keptain is a good man.”

The added comment earned Chekov a raised eyebrow. Pavel gave Sulu his best reassuring smile, though he wasn’t sure Karu was much reassured going by the way the pilot glanced uneasily back at the closed door. Pavel expected Hikaru to leave after that, but after a moment’s hesitation Sulu asked, “He said he gets to know all his new crew, have a chat or something?”

Chekov nodded both in agreement and in sudden understanding. No wonder Hikaru had such a near panic look, he’d felt much the same way when he’d first come to the Enterprise and the captain had made time just for him. It had been intimidating, and shocking, that a captain of such an elite ship would take the time to get to know each crew member, even the young seventeen year old ensign. “Da, he did zhat vhen I arrive as vell.”

Hikaru nodded, looking somewhat more relaxed. Chekov was elated that he had helped, no matter how little. The feeling didn’t last long, broken with Sulu’s next words.

“I should be going…”

“Karu, vait.” Chekov interrupted, near desperate to see more of that familiar Karu he’d had a glimpse of. “Ve could go get some food, mister scott will be off shift soon, he vas going to join me?”

“You know I can’t.” Hikaru told him, taking a step away. He gestured half-heartedly towards Deck 5. “I’m already….” Sulu stopped short, dropping his hand and shaking his head. “Just don’t get involved, okay?”

With that, Hikaru turned and walked away. He hoped Chekov would understand. Things were different here. Kirk, McCoy, and even Spock, all made things different. It wasn’t safe for Chekov to be getting in the middle of things. Bad enough Jameson didn’t like Pav, the Alpha obviously had some connections to have gotten a post here. Hikaru didn’t want Pav to risk whatever relationship and position he’d gained with the senior crew on the Enterprise for him. He wasn’t worth it and certainly didn’t deserve it.


	13. Course Corrections

Chekov let out a sigh as he walked down the corridor. It had been a busy two weeks for the enterprise. Picking up new crew, delivering medicine, not to mention the attack on the settlement that had needed the medicine. Thankfully, they hadn’t gotten any more urgent calls and it felt like the entire crew was taking a sigh of relief.

Pavel didn’t feel any less tense, however.

“It’s weird, like the guy doesn’t think he’s worth being around.”

“What? We talking bout the same Sulu?”

“Yeah, for real. Makes some excuse every time anyone asking him to hang out. At first I thought it was because he thought he was better or something, I’ve met a few pilots like that, but it’s the way he says it that just… “

Chekov paused, unable to help himself. He’d seen hardly anything of Sulu since that day on Deck 5 nearly a week ago. He didn’t count their shifts together on the bridge. Hikaru had been as silent as always. Pavel was almost positive that Karu was even colder towards him since he’d spoken to him last week. He felt guilty for eavesdropping, but he wanted to know how his friend was doing.

“You sure we’re talking bout the same person? Cuz you shoulda seen him on Talos. Guy held off one of the rebels, who had as sword by the way, with a piece of pipe. And after he was organizing communication with the ship, finding missing crew, and pretty much took over til we found Spock…”

Chekov frowned to himself. He’d heard what had happened on Talos, even that Sulu had been awarded a commendation. There hadn’t been any official announcement or ceremony, something Hikaru had requested apparently. Chekov knew exactly who had really been behind that request. Not that he had proof.

But it had been over a week since then and he hadn’t seen any difference is Hikaru. The Sulu that this crewman was describing… That sounded like the old Karu. The one Pavel missed so dearly. If he closed his eyes, he could all but see a Hikaru full of confidence and strength, just like the two were discussing.

Chekov opened his eyes, feeling a little foolish for having just been standing there basically day dreaming. The other two had already moved along, taking their conversation with them.

This did bring one thing to Chekov’s attention, however. Some people were noticing a difference in how Hikaru acted. He didn’t think that was even remotely enough proof to bring to anyone, but maybe it was a start?

He sighed, shaking his head, then began walking again. He’d been on his way to the mess hall to try to eat something, though he hadn’t had much of an appetite recently. Unfortunately, he’d promised Scotty he’d meet him there, so he couldn’t just go back to his quarters and mull over what he’d learned.

Trying to put what he’d heard in the back of his mind, Chekov entered the mess hall and looked around for Scotty. He blinked in shock when he saw none other than Hikaru sitting alone at a table. He looked nervous and uncomfortable, eyes glued to the table in front of him.

Worriedly, Chekov glanced around for Jameson. He scanned the room three times before he was assured that the man wasn’t in the room. Pav shifted his weight from foot to foot, knowing he shouldn’t.

The last interaction with Karu wasn’t one he’d call all that great. However, he couldn’t stop himself from moving forward, approaching the table Sulu was seated at.

“Hey, hi, lieutenant Sulu.” He greeted, feeling awkward being so formal. He hated it and it hurt saying it, but he wasn’t going to risk chasing Karu away again.

Hikaru seemed to freeze, eyes flickering up to meet Chekov’s. Pavel hurried to say something, worried Hikaru would make up some excuse to leave. “Congratulations, on zhe commendation.”

“It… I didn’t do anything that great.” Hikaru muttered, dropping his gaze once more.

“But you did, zhat is vhy zhey gave you one.” Chekov argued. He wanted to sigh in frustration at the half shrug he got from Sulu. Something had happened, but once again he couldn’t do anything about it.

“Vell, I vill be happy and excited for you, da?” He offered, smiling sadly and reaching out to pat Sulu’s shoulder.

Chekov stopped short, pulling back when Sulu flinched away from his outstretched hand.

In an instant, Sulu was standing, unable to meet Chekov’s eyes as he spoke. “Sorry, Pav, I-… Ensign Chekov, sorry, but I should be going.”

Pavel hadn’t thought it possible, but his heart broke all over again hearing Karu speak his nickname, then trying to cover up the affection with formality. He felt frozen in place, unable to call out to Sulu as the pilot turned and left without another word.

“Aye, where’s he goin now?” Scotty queried, returning with the drinks he’d gone to fetch. “Finally convince him to come out and have a drink with me and away he pops without so much as a farewell.”

“Ah, he is… probably going back to his room.” Chekov replied after a long pause, finally tearing his eyes away from the doors and looking at Scotty. He should have known better, shouldn’t have tried to touch him.

Scotty frowned, sitting down and passing Chekov a glass. “You look like ya could use a drink, lad.”

Wordlessly, Chekov accepted the glass and took a drink. The two of them sat in silence for a while, Chekov staring down into his glass. “I am glad he is making some friends, at least.” Pavel finally broke the silence, proud that he didn’t sound jealous at all.

Not that he was going to hold anything against Scotty or Sulu. If that was who Karu wanted to be friends with, that was fine. Scotty was a good man, Karu deserved good friends. Going by the conversation he’d overheard earlier though, it didn’t sound like Hikaru was all too willing to make any.

“I wouldna call us friends, exactly.” Scotty stated, unknowingly confirming Chekov’s thoughts, shrugging lightly. “More like I found him doin a zombie walk around the halls one night and provided an escort. Then I mig’ta spent a few nights campin outta that Jameson’s quarters waiting for the lad to pop out again. He looked like hell each time an I figure he could do with some help rather than collapsing in the hall.”

That caught Chekov’s attention. Pavel looked up with wide eyes at Scotty. “You hawe? Is he… I mean, vhat…” Chekov floundered, struggling to find words that wouldn’t put him in the same position he’d been in back on the Indiana. But he was just so desperate to have someone, anyone, to help look after Sulu. Especially now that it was so obvious the pilot wanted nothing to do with him.

“I can’t really figure out how he is, honestly.” Scotty admitted with a sigh. “I was hoping the man would let something slip. But he just stays quiet, lets me talk the whole time.”

“He von’t.” Chekov wilted, looking back down at his drink. “Zhe whole time ve were friends on zhe Indiana, he newer said anyzhing.”

Scotty tilted his head in consideration. “You’ve never talked about the pair of them on the Indiana before, or mention any of what I’ve seen this past week or so. Why not?” He tried not to sound accusatory, that wasn’t what he meant by the question at all.

Pavel flushed red, looking away to the side. “I caused so much trouble on zhe Indiana, both for Karu and myself, because I vas interfering wizh zheir Alpha Omega relationship. Zhe Captain, Abbey I mean, he… he vas always so irritated vhen I brought it up, and zhe few times I did, I vouldn’t see Karu for a few days, ewen zhough ve had zhe same shift…”

“Jim wouldnta ignored a concern like that, lad, you know that, right?” Scotty asked worriedly.

“I know zhat, I just… I didn’t vant to risk hurting Karu more.”

“Aye, I understand that. ‘s why I been keeping my thoughts to myself til now. Bonds are tricky things.” Scotty sat thinking for a moment, then nodded decisively. “Alright then. With what I’ve seen and what you know, I think our first stop should be sickbay. Doctor McCoy’ll probably know something bout the man’s medical history, might give us some concrete evidence.”

Chekov nodded, standing up eagerly.

“Hold on now, Chekov. We might want to wait-“

“Vait? But ve should go right avay. If Doctor McCoy has ewidence zhen we should find out as soon as possible.” Chekov protested, eager to get going. It was almost surreal having someone show any kind of concern for Hikaru, though a part of Pav realized he shouldn’t be so surprised. Most everyone here on the Enterprise, at least all of the senior staff, were all good people.

“Aye, that we should, but McCoy’s probably sleeping. After the emergency with Talos, and needin that medication on another base to boot, the docs been put under a lot of stress. I dunno bout you, but I think lettin him have a few hours sleep before piling some more on em is only fair.” Scotty explained. He was all for getting this investigation under way as soon as possible, but he was also a fan of living.

McCoy and his team had been pressed hard to keep up with the demand for the vaccine and Scotty had it on good authority that McCoy’d only stopped working once the danger had passed.

Besides, Scotty knew Jameson was on shift for the next few hours and wouldn’t be anywhere near Sulu. So, they’d have plenty of time after the good doctor had gotten some rest without risking anything else happening to Hikaru before then.

“Don’t worry lad.” Scotty assured Chekov, noticing that the Russian didn’t seem at all like he wanted to wait. “Jamison has the late shift in engineering tonight, so Hikaru will be fine. Doesn’t seem much like our new pilot wants company right now anyway. So until we can bring this up to McCoy, why don’t we get all the facts straight.”


	14. Troubles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you Augs for helping me with this chapter!!  
> It's a bit longer than normal, but there wasn't really any good breaking point, so enjoy!

Scotty and Chekov talked for hours, though they eventually moved to a more private place. The mess quickly became empty before they started discussing any sensitive things, but Pavel couldn’t stress enough how much he worried that anything they might say or do could end up hurting Sulu.

He knew Sulu was fine for now, Scotty had assured him Jameson would be on shift up until Sulu was due to start his own shift. But that didn’t mean that would always be the case and Chekov was worried that somehow word would get back to the Alpha. No matter how quietly they spoke. And while he knew that once McCoy, and eventually Kirk, were filled in on their concerns, things would change, but he also knew that it wouldn’t likely be fixed overnight.

So, since Scotty was the chief engineer and had his own office (no matter how rarely used that space was), the two of them ended up there with snacks and coffee. Snacks because Scotty was of the opinion Chekov hadn’t been eating enough since Hikaru had joined the crew, and coffee because he had the inkling that this was going to be a long, hard, conversation.

For Chekov, it was a relief to finally be able to truly confide in someone again. He’d long been able to come to Scotty about problems, but this was one that he’d never been able to tell anyone. Now here was Scotty, every bit as concerned about Hikaru as he was, and Chekov was really starting to believe that the problem could be fixed. That his best friend would be okay.

The only thing missing was proof.

Thankfully, hard proof wasn’t needed to simply bring up a concern to the CMO about a health issue.

Chekov spoke the majority of the time, more or less recounting the years on the Indiana. It was a side of Chekov’s life that Scotty hadn’t heard much of anything about. Even though the young Beta was mostly talking about Hikaru, the narrative gave Scotty more than a bit of insight onto the Russian’s early career.

“Sounds ta me like ya had a hard time there too, laddie.” Scotty commented with an unhappy frown. He supposed he should have put that together already. Chekov had been a similar type of reserved and uneasy as their resident Omega currently acted.

Chekov simply shrugged slightly. He couldn’t disagree with the sentiment. After the first week or so at their post on the Indiana, things had gone definitively downhill for both him and Sulu. Though, Sulu had had a more drastic change, so Chekov felt his difficulties were hardly worth mentioning.

“But I think, with as much as you’ve seen from back then, and with what I’ve seen more recently,” Scotty continued, filling in the silence when it became apparent that Chekov had nothing more to add, “Tha’ should give the doc something to go on.”

“Does zhat mean ve can go talk to him now?” Chekov asked, voice lilting up hopefully.

Scotty glanced over to check the time, eyebrows raising in surprise at the hour. “Aye, in fact I’da say McCoy’ll be in a good a mood as he’ll ever be, now that he’s had some sleep.”

Chekov all but leapt out of his chair, bouncing on the balls of his feet eagerly.

“C’mon lad, first we’ll stop by the mess, get the good doctor a nice cup of coffee, then we’ll get things sorted.”

True to his word, Scotty kept the stop for coffee brief. No talking to anyone, just got the joe and left. Chekov fidgeted the entire time, not stopping even as they were walking through the doors of the medbay. It was fairly empty in there. A few nurses and doctors were wandering around tending to various things, but there were no patients for the time being.

It was a stroke of luck in Scotty’s opinion.

Better still, there was McCoy, setting some test running on some machine it looked. Scotty elbowed Chekov, nodding in McCoy’s direction just in time for the doctor to glance over and spot them. An exasperated sort of expression crossed McCoy’s face and the CMO headed in their direction.

Chekov sent an anxious, almost panicked glance over at Scotty upon feeling the gentle elbow. There was no time for him to back out now, however, because McCoy was already nearing them.

Chekov took the last few seconds to take a deep breath and raise his gaze over to the doctor. Maybe he shouldn't have. The man's expression almost looked annoyed.

He seemed tired, which wasn't entirely out of the ordinary, but more so than usual. Thought, to be fair, it had been a trying past few days for all of the medical crew.

Pavel had known McCoy long enough to know that this was pretty normal. The doctor was gruff and straight to the point. That was just how he was. However, seeing him now and thinking about what he had to say made him fearful.

He kept thinking back to Huely. Remembering how the man hadn't helped and how he had just brushed things to the side. How he had been lectured to stay out of other people's business.

Even though Chekov _knew_ things were different, _knew_ that McCoy was a good man and that they were on the Enterprise, something deep inside of him kept telling him that everything was going to go wrong. That things were going to get worse after this talk.

"Hello, doctor," he greeted with a light head nod, fingers still fiddling with the end of his sleeves. ".......can ve talk to you?"

He could do this, he could, Chekov told himself. Nervous as he was, he couldn’t hold Doctor McCoy’s gaze. The moment the question was out of his mouth, his gaze dropped to the floor. Please, please let this not be a mistake.

McCoy gave a quick once over to both of them, making sure neither were injured. It wouldn’t be the first time one, or both of them had shown up at odd hours due to some sort of upgrade they’d been working on that had singed something.

Thankfully, because he had enough work to catch up on thank you, both appeared injury free. McCoy frowned at the fidgeting Russian, unused to the almost shy behavior he was seeing. He glanced over at Scotty, lifting a questioning eyebrow, but the chief engineer just shrugged noncommittally before nodding his head towards Chekov.

McCoy sighed, but took the hint and directed his attention towards Chekov. “Sure. Come on.”

He waved them along and headed towards his office. He’d planned on heading there before he’d gotten distracted by their arrival anyway.

Chekov followed after McCoy automatically. He didn't know what he was supposed to do. How was he supposed to talk about this? How was one to start a conversation like that? His mind was racing with intros and starts of every kind, yet nothing seemed right.

Scotty walked beside him, tugging gently on Chekov’s sleeve after a couple steps for his attention. “Here.” He whispered, offering him the cup of coffee to give to McCoy.

Pavel accepted the warm cup gratefully. It brought him back for a few moments, grounding him. He gave Scotty a small nod and a halfhearted smile. "Zhanks for being here," he whispered back just as they headed into McCoy's office.

Chekov's steps only faltered once, when McCoy was sitting down. The second of hesitation was gone almost as quickly as it came as he forced himself forward. It had to be done. He was there, Scotty was there, it would be okay. McCoy could be trusted.

But he had thought Huely could be trusted and things had never changed.

But McCoy was different.

McCoy was different, he had to be.

Chekov approached the doctor's desk and handed him the coffee with an outstretched hand and a small, forced smile he had taught himself to carry on the Indiana. "Here, ve got zhis for you. It's pretty early and you vork too hard." He paused, biting his tongue hard while he waited for the man to accept the drink.

Once it was out of his hands, he let his arms drop, almost sad that the warmth from the cup was gone. He linked his hands behind him, squeezing and un-squeezing his hands over and over again to help him focus.

McCoy took the coffee with an appreciative grimace and a short nod. “Thanks.” He sat down with his coffee, sipping at it while waiting for either one of them to talk about whatever it was that had brought them here.

"....I hawe some concerns about Lieutenant Sulu's health and vellbeing." Chekov began. Keep it professional, keep it short.

McCoy lifted an eyebrow at the topic, glancing over at Scotty once again, then looked back at Chekov. “You know I can’t tell you person information, even if you are friends with the person in question.” McCoy said dryly.

“Aye, and we wouldn’t ask you to.” Scotty spoke up this time. “We’re just some friends, bringing a concern of the wellbeing of our other friend.”

Chekov had been forcing himself to make eye contact while speaking, but now that Scotty had taken over, he allowed his eyes to drift back to the floor. He was more than happy to let the engineer speak, but from McCoy’s tone, he wasn’t sure how much further they were going to get.

“Uh-huh.” McCoy snorted, unamused. He let out a sigh, taking another drink. They’d been thoughtful enough to bring an offering of coffee, he had to give them that. “And these concerns would be?”

When it got silent after the doctor's inquiry, Chekov realized that it was his turn to speak again. He gave an uncertain, side-eyed glance to Scotty, before looking to McCoy again. He cleared his throat quietly, trying to think of the right words to say with a short amount of time.

"I don't zhink... vell, maybe.. I zhink his relationship vizh anozher person on zhis ship isn't going well." His eyebrows furrowed for a moment, as he looked over at Scotty again. Had he been too forward? Maybe it wasn't subtle enough.

He didn't want to just outright say names right off the bat, but maybe relationship wasn't the correct word. His eyes flickered back to McCoy and he shook his head some. "Not a relationship in zhat vay but like.. um, a friend, I suppose." Now he was just making things worse.

McCoy sat silently for a moment, trying to puzzle out what Chekov was saying. He closed his eyes, rubbing his temple for a second. He’d said he wanted to talk about a concern about Sulu’s health, and now he was talking about a relationship not going well?

McCoy’s heard in the past about how close Chekov and Sulu had been, best of friend at the academy was how Chekov had told it. And it was no secret that since Sulu’s arrival on the Enterprise, the Russian had received nothing but a cold shoulder. But the kid couldn’t possibly have come here talking about the pilot’s health as some connection to that…

Unable to find any other connection to Chekov’s two statements, McCoy opened his eyes to look over at Scotty. “Care to elaborate?”

Scotty had to resist the urge to facepalm. He knew Chekov was nervous, but even he was surprised at how convoluted that came out. Still, he was here to support and help, and so he would. “We think there might be a problem between mister Sulu and mister Jameson.”

McCoy’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “I see. And this affects their health and wellbeing?”

Leave it to Scotty to rip the bandage off.

And yet, when Chekov dared a look over to McCoy, the doctor still seemed calm and okay. A bit surprised, perhaps, but he wasn't being all defensive and jumping to Jameson's defense like he still half expected the doctor to do. Maybe this would go well after all, not that the thought helped any with his nerves.

"Ve zhink it has somezhing to do vizh zheir bond," he spoke up, feeling the tiniest bit better fully knowing that Scotty had his back. "Hikaru vas okay vhen he first got here, but zhen Jameson transferred over and zhen he was right back to how he vas on the Indiana, vorse, ewen, maybe." He frowned slightly, stopping himself before he could let more spill out.

Let McCoy digest the information, don't overload him.

“Wait, wait.” McCoy held up a hand for a moment. “What’d you mean, back to how he was?” Was the kid talking about Sulu and Jameson’s bond, or Sulu and Chekov’s friendship? He wasn’t getting any less confused with Chekov’s explanation.

Scotty spoke up again, heading off McCoy’s confusion before it could turn into frustration. “Chekov here noticed some behavior changes to mister Sulu back on the Indiana, and when he transferred here, with the whole Talos incident, he seemed normal, but now it’s more apparent that something’s still wrong.”

“So, it’s Sulu the two of you are concerned about?” McCoy asked, glancing between the two of them for confirmation.

“Aye.” Scotty agreed, nodding. “I’ve noticed some suspicious things only a couple days after they arrived on board. Chekov here has seen more, even back on the Indiana.”  
Scotty looked over at Chekov, nodding encouragingly.

McCoy turned to Chekov as well. The kid was looking at the ground again, fidgeting restlessly. Looking closer, he noticed Chekov looked skinnier, paler than usual. Almost a mirror image to the skittish fifteen-year-old kid that had transferred to the Enterprise over two years ago.

“Alright.” McCoy began. He thought he might be beginning to piece together what it was Chekov was trying to bring up with him. “Let’s start from the beginning then. I’ve heard you talk about mister Sulu from the academy. And it sounds like you’re saying something changed sometime after he and Jameson were bonded?”

“Yes, but, ewen before zhat.” Chekov explained, shuffling in his seat for a second. He looked over at Scotty briefly, looking for some reassurance. He was still so scared, so worried, that this would come back on Sulu. His meddling had hurt his friend too many times on the Indiana.

“Just tell em what you told me, lad.” Scotty prompted him gently.

And so he did.

It didn’t come out nearly as smoothly as when he’d been talking only to Scotty, and a couple times the engineer had to speak up and get him to clarify something. But he told McCoy everything, every instance of Sulu acting differently, of the excuses he made.

Chekov had gone his entire post on the Enterprise speaking about the Sulu at the Academy, talking about the Sulu from the Indiana was like talking about a completely different person. In explaining it again, he was struck by how quick of a change it had been. So many warning signs he should have seen, lies he never should have believed.

Chekov drew in a long breath, holding it for a second. He was too far in this to back out now. “I zhink Lt. Jameson iz doing zomezhing to hurt Karu. Lt. Sulu, I mean. I don’t zhink zhat he is being treat vell…” He concluded, fidgeting once more.

“I myself have found the man leaving Jameson’s quarters in a right state. Million miles away in his own head, using the wall as support.” Scotty added.

McCoy leaned back in his chair, frowning at his desk in silent contemplation. That was certainly quite an accusation, and McCoy wasn't entirely certain how to immediately go about dealing with it.

“Well, if he is injured, all I can tell ya on that is he hasn’t been in here since he was cleared for duty.” McCoy stated, turning towards his console. He needed to go through to files of all the new crewmembers anyway, and since they were here bringing it up, he might as well start with Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu’s file.

“Really? Even after that whole thing down on Talos?” Scotty commented, surprise and curiosity breaking through the somber atmosphere of the room.

McCoy tossed him an annoyed glance, but his attention quickly returned to the screen. The doctor had a growing looked of confusion and Scotty was tempted to try and look at the screen as well. He resisted the urge, instead asking, “Something wrong?”

“There’s nothing in his medical file…” McCoy noted, a frown forming on his face.

“Vhat?” Chekov questioned, heart already dropping in resignation.

Scotty patted Chekov on the shoulder, nodding his head patiently at McCoy when the kid looked over at him.

The doctor’s frown was growing, eyes scanning across the screen in front of him quickly.

“Vhat is vrong?” Chekov asked again.

“I just said, there’s nothing in his medical file.” McCoy snipped, eyes glancing up briefly at the two of them.

“Aye, and that means?” Scotty prompted, not understanding just what the doctor was hinting at.

McCoy leaned back letting out a frustrated sigh. What with the medical emergency on two planets, he hadn’t had the time to go through the medical files of all the new crewmen just yet. He’d left the brunt of the initial examinations to his staff this time. Apparently, there had been some oversight.

“I’ve been in the medical profession for a damn long time, and nobody, I mean nobody, has a perfect health record like this.” McCoy explained. “No injuries, sickness, anything.”

‘Nozhing ever?” Chekov repeated, tone doubtful. “Zhat is not right.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.” McCoy huffed. “Even if I believed he’d never had an injury his entire Starfleet career-“

“He has, I remember some of zhem from-“

“ _If_ I believed it,” McCoy interrupted Chekov’s interruption. “It’s still impossible. Even the simplest of bonds requires a minor injury. It varies from pair to pair, but it’s always there. While couples don’t require permission from a superior, it is customary to have the injury treated afterword.”

McCoy continued to explain, almost talking to himself as his eyes drifting back to the monitor and began searching the systems. “The policy and procedure for such a situation isn’t widely known because Alpha Omega pairs, much less bonded ones, are so rare.”

“Because zhe omega designation is wery rare, zhey make up awerage ten percent of zhe human population.” Chekov added, wanting to show that he was paying attention.

“Exactly.” McCoy agreed. “And other couples don’t have the same bond connection as and Alpha Omega pair. Not even a Beta Omega pair.”

“So what does that mean, doc?” Scotty asked, hoping to get them back to the point of why they’d come here.

“It means that this medical file is incomplete.” McCoy stated after a long pause. “I’ll have to check the other new crews’ records, make sure it wasn’t a data transfer error, and talk to Chapel. I think she was the one who did most of the evaluations. If I remember correctly, he told me she was the one who cleared him too.”

McCoy fell silent for a moment, musing to himself. He shook his head a minute later, looking back up at the two of them. “In the meantime, take your concerns to Jim. He’s more in a position to deal with that side of things for now. Once I get his complete file, I’ll know more.”

Chekov looked over at Scott, who nodded. He supposed he would have to be content with that for now. McCoy was at least going to look into the issue. He’d listened to their concerns, hadn’t dismissed them outright as meddling in something that didn’t concern them.

That was enough of a difference for Chekov to be somewhat reassured. And he’d advised them to go talk to Kirk, so that meant he thought there was some cause for concern too, right?

“Guess we’re off to find captain perfect hair.” Scotty tried joking as they left the medical bay, hoping to lighten Chekov’s mood.

Chekov looked up at Scotty with a weak smile. “Da.” He agreed with a nod, not finding much humor in the joke, but trying for Scotty’s sake. He wasn’t looking forward to having that conversation all over again, but if it helped…

If it got Sulu out of whatever hell he was dealing with, then he’d have that conversation a thousand times over.


	15. And Then There Were Four

Now that the medical emergency on the two federation bases had been handled, the Enterprise was back to her original standing orders: exploration. In fact, the only reason they had been send to help had been mostly out of convenience (though McCoy’s expertise was appreciated). They had needed to return to port in order to collect the new crew, and so they had been closest to assist with the emergency.

Helping with the secondary outbreak had just made sense because they already had the medicine and experience from the first crisis. Kirk was more than happy to be back to exploring the galaxy. He coped best by keeping busy, and he knew the rest of the crew would do well to have a less stressful mission to focus on.

Thus, having laid in a course for their continued mission and then later given the bridge over to Spock, Kirk found himself taking a calming breath. He had a few reports left to finish, a few other reports to review, and then he planned to have a drink and try to unwind for a moment. Maybe then he could figure out just what it was in the back of him mind that was bugging him so much.

“Keptain!”

“Hey, Jim”

Kirk stopped, turning to see Chekov and Scotty headed towards him. He’d been so lost in thought walking down the corridor, he’d almost missed them calling for him.

“Hey you two, what’s up?” He paused, tilting his head curiously at the somber expression on both faces. “Something wrong?”

"Can ve talk to you about somezhing?" Chekov began, pausing as a few crew members sidled past, chatting amiably. "...Privately?"

After talking to both Scotty and McCoy, Pavel thought that maybe speaking to Kirk would be easier.

They worked pretty closely, he loved the captain, it would be fine. He still couldn't shake the weight in his stomach, however, and the longer they stood there, the more his nerves grew.

“Yeah, of course.” Kirk agreed quickly. He hesitated for a moment, considering, then led the way towards and empty science room. It was closer than his office, and this way they wouldn’t have to walk all the way to the bridge. Kirk could see that something way up, and he didn’t want to deal with the awkward silence of the trip there.

Sometimes, it was the little things.

“Alright, so what’s going on?” Kirk asked, head tilted in concern.

Once inside the science room, Chekov slipped into a chair and folded his hands on the table. His heart was pounding, but he felt a tiny bit more prepared than when they had gone to speak with the doctor.

"It is about Lt. Sulu," he started, eyes staring at his folded fingers for a few moments, before they flickered up to meet Kirk's. "Ve already talked to Doctor McCoy and he said to come talk to you."

Kirk lifted an eyebrow. If McCoy was sending them to him, it wasn’t a medical problem, so at least he didn’t have to worry the pilot was hurt.

“We’re concerned about him and Jameson.” Scotty stated bluntly. “He won’t say nothing, but from what I’ve seen here, and what Chekov knows from his previous post, it’s not a healthy relationship.”

Chekov nodded in agreement, tension relaxing slightly. Scotty had taken care of the hard part, getting the topic going, and opened up for him to fill the captain in on what he’d told McCoy.

Together, Chekov and Scotty went over everything they’d spoken to McCoy about.

Kirk stood quietly for a moment after they’d finished., head turned with a look of confused disgust. This… this changed the way he viewed the few interactions he’d had with the pilot since the man had joined his crew. Sulu’s skittishness, how he was not at all like Chekov had described him, or like the way the reports from Talos had described his behavior either.

And that comment he’d made about not serving more than one Alpha… it made a disturbing bit of sense when he thought about it. If what Chekov and Scotty were saying was true, then he had a serious issue to deal with. Not that he didn’t believe them, more that he didn’t want to.

“But Sulu’s never submitted any complaints? Said anything?” Kirk asked. That would have, should have, been the first step in any kind of dispute between crewmen. Yeah, it would be a little muddled due to the whole Bonded situation, but it was Starfleet procedure.

As concerned as he was about something somehow reaching Jameson, Chekov felt a weight lift off his chest somewhat. It was nice to know that at least the captain and doctor knew; the two people who could hopefully help Hikaru the most.

He wasn't the only one carrying the full weight of it now.

Of course, he was still terrified that it was in the hands of others now, but as long as Karu got the help he needed, as long as he could get away from Jameson forever, he could deal with the anxiety and paranoia.

"Newer, sir, unless it vas somezhing confidential," he stated with a concerned frown. "Hikaru does not complain. He newer has. He is too afraid of Jameson."

Kirk ran a hand down his face, letting out a slow sigh and a curse. To say this would be a delicate situation to handle was an understatement. The two of them had been bonded for over two years, and Kirk had only known them both for a couple of days. Trying to barge in on their relationship, as toxic as Chekov and Scotty were describing it, wouldn’t do a lot of good.

It wouldn’t _look_ very good either. One Alpha coming up to another and more or less taking the other’s Bonded Omega away from them. It wouldn’t be the full story, but that’s probably how Jameson would spin it. If the man was cruel enough to hurt someone who was supposed to be able to trust him, Kirk wouldn’t put anything past him.

Still, with the concerns Chekov and Scotty were bringing him, he couldn’t just sit back and do nothing.

“Without a complain from Sulu, or some concrete evidence other than heresay, I can’t _officially_ do anything.” Kirk said eventually. “I believe you, and what you’ve said… well, now that you’ve told me all this, it sheds some light on some of the odd things he’s said and way he has acted.”

Chekov's eyes widened as his stomach fell to his feet. "You can't do _anyzhing_?" he asked, unable to hide the edge of urgency in his tone.

He knew that Kirk was right, and that they really couldn't do anything without some kind of statement from Sulu, but surely marks or bruises, or even just Hikaru being horribly fearful was enough to make something go through?

"Keptain,” the Russian continued. "Zhere must be _somezhing_ zhat-“

Scotty put a hand of Chekov’s shoulder, cutting him off and forestalling any additional complaints. “Unofficially then?”

Kirk shot Scotty a grin, glad the man had caught onto that. “I can make sure their schedules are opposites, leaves less time for them to interact. You already talked to McCoy…” Kirk paused for confirmation, continuing when they both nodded. “then he’s already looking into it too. I’ll do the same, but for now we’ll just have to wait. The two of you are closest to mister Sulu, so try and let him know he can register a complain, even if he’s Bonded to Jameson. If you see a negative interaction between the two of them, bring it to my attention, but unless that happens…”

Jim shrugged a little helplessly. He wished there were more he could do. If something was going on and their newest alpha was doing something to harm his bonded Omega, Kirk was going to do his best to get to the bottom of it quickly. There should have been some indication when the two of them had been checked in medbay before they were cleared for duty.

At least it made his course of action pretty simple for the time being. He’d need to make a few adaptations to the shift roster, then he and McCoy would need to have a conversation. His day had started out with a heavy workload catching up after the two emergency missions and it had just gotten busier.

“We’ll keep an eye on him, sir.” Scotty assured the captain.

“Thanks.” Kirk said, nodding at both of them before heading out.

Chekov and Scotty stood in silence for a while, both contemplating in the own way how they could possibly do something more to help with the situation.

“Come on, lad.” Scotty spoke up with a sigh. “I shoulda been down in engineering ten minutes ago, and you’re due on the bridge soon too. Nothing more we can do right now.”


	16. Stirring up the Water

It was quite a few hours before Kirk was free to go looking for McCoy to have the conversation he’d told Chekov and Scotty would happen. He had some reports to deal with, schedules to confirm and reorganize, and he decided to spend his shift on the bridge keeping an eye on Sulu. And Chekov, who was most likely sitting there worrying and possibly wondering why Kirk wasn’t immediately doing something.

He hoped the navigator realized why he couldn’t act immediately, why they had to be a little patient with this type of situation.

Kirk finalized the new bridge schedule, sending a memo of Sulu’s to Scotty so he could organize Jameson’s, then left Spock in charge of the bridge and headed down to medbay.

The moment McCoy saw Kirk walk through the medbay doors he gave him a scowl. He moved away from the console he had been working at, striding to meet Kirk and walked with the captain toward the privacy of his office.

“I take it they spoke with you?” McCoy asked.

“Yeah.” Kirk nodded. “Only problem is, without any formal complaint, or anything on file as a record of some misconduct, I can’t do anything right now. So. What have you got. He would have come by here his first day aboard for clearance.”

“I’ve been going through the records for all the new crew, and Lt. Sulu’s is the only one with anything abnormal. There are signs of tampering with the file.” McCoy reported. “I’m going to send a request to the chief medical officer on the Indiana, see if they have a complete copy. Since the file on our computers has been changed, I’m hoping the original hasn’t.”

“Sounds like a long shot.” Kirk said, doubt coloring his tone.

“It is.” McCoy agreed. “If his original file is intact, and there is evidence of something going on, I can’t imagine how it hasn’t come up before now. If nothing else, the files from the Indiana might have evidence of more tampering. We might be able to find out who did the tampering if that’s the case.”

“Which would give us more leverage later on.” Kirk added, nodding in understanding. “I’ll get Spock to help you with that side of it.” One discrepancy could, possibly, be explained away as a computer error. Loss of data wasn’t something that happened often, especially not in such a specified and selective way, but it did happen in some circumstances. Proof that the same file, and no others, had been changed on a different ship would be harder to explain away.

“Alright Bones. You handle that, get back to me as soon as you have anything. Spock can check the files when you get them and we’ll go forward from there.” Kirk decided. “In the meantime, I’m going to verify what Chekov was saying, talk to the rest of the crew for an outside perspective. I’ve noticed some odd behavior a few times, but more points of view can’t hurt.”

McCoy nodded in agreement. “Just be careful. Confronting either of them, or even tipping them off through someone else, could be dangerous.”

~~

FIVE DAYS LATER

~~

“Bad new, Jim.” McCoy stated, walking into the private lounge area. It was an unspoken rule that the room belonged to Kirk, and the crew were happy to let him have it for his own use. McCoy, Spock, Scotty, and more recently Chekov, would hang out with Kirk there, but on the whole it was a private room.

McCoy was perfectly happy to make himself at home, taking a seat beside Spock. He gave the Vulcan a nod of greeting as he leaned against the counter in front of him.

Kirk closed his eyes briefly, suppressing a groan. Just what he needed. More bad news. It was difficult enough that neither Chekov nor Scotty had had any luck getting Sulu to open up to them. Jim had tried all of once since the two had expressed their concerns and the Omega had all but run away from him. He’d politely kept all of their interaction’s profession since then.

Five days. Five days since McCoy and Spock had started digging into the issue. Kirk had really been hoping the doctor would have found _something_ after this long. His only source of some comfort in this whole Jameson/Sulu mess was that their plan to have them on opposite shifts seemed to be keeping them apart. Which, given that they were bonded, and an Omega’s health depended on an Alpha, was only ever going to be a temporary thing.

For his end, Jim had spent the majority of his downtime talking to the crew, getting their perspective on things. He was unsurprised to learn that many of them had noticed the bonded pair acted oddly around each other, and that Sulu’d had more than one awkward encounter with a few of the crew. No one had heard anything incriminating, but most found the pilot’s behavior odd, off in some way they couldn’t quite put a finger on.

“Alright, let’s hear it.” Kirk sighed, bringing himself back to the conversation at hand.

“I just got the file from Huely, I’m not even gonna start on why it took him so damn long, and it looks like whatever was done to our file was done there too. It’s just as squeaky clean.” McCoy growled.

“How is that possible?” Kirk groaned in frustration. “You can’t be the only one who would see a problem with that report!”

“Perhaps the report was altered by Doctor Huely originally.” Spock offered. He’d been the one who had worked on determining that their file had been tampered with on the Enterprise, though he hadn’t been able to determine the culprit, so he was aware of the situation they were discussing.

McCoy and Kirk looked at each other, then back to Spock.

“I thought you’d said the file was changed after the date that the new crewmen had come aboard.” McCoy stated, tone almost challenging. He didn’t want Spock to be right, didn’t like the implications of it. If Huely had done something, then the doctor was covering for Jameson.

“The file was altered two days after we had left the starbase to deliver the medicine to Talos IV.” Spock intoned, unaffected by McCoy. “However, the modifications did not appear to be extensive. So far, my efforts to undo the changes have yielded little result other than a few superficial injuries.”

“Wait, so there’s a record of something then?” Kirk asked hopefully, wondering why this was the first he was hearing about it.

“Yeah, but don’t get your hopes up.” McCoy huffed, rolling his eyes. “He also uncovered a note on the file that both Jameson _and_ Sulu stated it those were the result of intimate consensual relations. Which makes it all but useless.”

“Yet, the file was still altered, even though it contained no accusing information.” Spock commented.

“Back to the main issue.” Kirk said after a moment of silence. “Huely. Spock, you think he changed the original file.”

“It is more probably that he simply kept an incomplete record.” Spock said, amending his previous statement. “An altered file could be noticed by anyone when the reports are sent to Starfleet. However, a clean record, however improbably, would raise less suspicious.”

“Especially if no one looked too deep into it.” Kirk added. “And who would think to.”

“If we go on this assumption, then we’ve probably already tipped Jameson off and we might as well talk to him, and Sulu, before he can get ahead of us.” McCoy advised.

“Alright, let’s move this to a conference room, deck 17. I’ll contact Jameson and have him go there now. We’ll interview him first, then bring Lt. Sulu in. Maybe having us there to back him up, show him a way out, will get him to finally speak up about what’s going on. And since Jameson will have already said his piece, he won’t be able to complain if I need to tell him to shut up for Lt. Sulu to speak.” Kirk decided.

McCoy snorted. “And they say I have a terrible bedside manner.”

“Come on Bones, Spock.” Kirk said with a determined cheerful tone.

“Fine.” McCoy agreed, standing up to follow the captain out. “But just so you know, you’re putting four Alpha’s and one Omega in a room to have a potentially volatile conversation. If this turns into a fight, I’m blaming you.”

“I’ll have security waiting right around to corner. You’ll be in charge of taking Sulu to sickbay. If it comes down to that. Who knows, he might decide to file a report if it goes that far.”

“If. With all that’s going on, you can’t think this is going to turn out to be some misunderstanding.” McCoy scoffed.

“More like I wish.” Kirk admitted. “I’d thought this sort of thing had died out years ago.”

Jim ended the conversation there, moving over to a console and opening up a comm line directly to Lieutenant Jameson. “Lt. Jameson, this is Captain Kirk. You are to report to conference room E, Deck 17 as soon as possible.”


	17. Fury

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Note: Hopping back a few hours from where we left off last chapter.)

Hikaru made his way down the corridor with the familiar mix of resignation and fear that always accompanied him when he was summoned to Jameson’s quarters. It had been a handful of days since he’d basically run away from Chekov in the mess, abandoning Scotty as well, and Sulu had somehow not been required to see Jameson up until this evening.

Sulu was grateful for the respite, hoped it indicated that maybe they’d go back to the more normal, sporadic schedule they’d had on the Indiana. Jameson had been increasingly demanding and possessive ever since the commendation and the new back to back day schedule with the Alpha were exhausting and it had been getting more difficult to keep up the front.

Which made the past five days all the more peaceful.

If it hadn’t been for the odd behavior of a few key members of the crew.

First had been the captain. Kirk had left the bridge with him after his shift four days ago, chatting with him in the lift. Well, more chatting at him. Sulu had been too nervous to say much. Kirk’s curiosity the first time they’d spoken had been understandable, but Sulu had been certain he’d made it clear that he belonged to Jameson. And he thought he’d hinted at how Jameson wasn’t one to share.  
Having Kirk’s continued interest directed his way was not a good feeling for Sulu. All he could think about the entire time the captain was speaking to him was how angry Jameson was going to be. Hikaru had taken the first opportunity to offer an excuse and take his leave from the Alpha captain.

Scotty had been more insistent. Sulu had gotten used to the chief engineer’s presence on his late-night walks to his quarters, but even with the man searching him out at other times, he wasn’t used to the attention. For some reason, Scotty had been showing up every day, at least once, just to chat. After the first couple times of showing up, he’s started bringing Chekov with him.

It had been awkward, at first, but with Scotty there to smooth things along, Hikaru had stayed. He knew it was weak of him, and that he shouldn’t because Jameson would eventually find out and put a stop to it, but Sulu let himself stay. He _missed_ Pavel, more so now that the kid was right _there_. Sitting right next to him at every shift on the bridge.

For three days he’d had peace, the privilege of friends to talk to, and best of all Chekov back again.

It had to end though, which was why he felt even more reluctance to go to Jameson now that he’d been called. Alpha would be angry, would reaffirm his claim, and warn him not to go throwing himself at the crew. It was something that had happened many times on the Indiana, even without Sulu having spent as much time as he’d recently done with Scotty and Chekov.

As prepared as he was for that reaction, he was taken completely off guard by the scent of dark fury that met him upon entering his Alpha’s quarters.

“Just what the hell is wrong with you?!” Jameson snarled, face dark with fury as he began to immediately stride towards the Omega. He didn’t even wait for his Omega to kneel, as he normally did.

Hikaru stepped back instinctively, mind going blank with shock and confusion in face of the Alpha’s overwhelming rage. He had no idea what had happened, what he could possibly have done. This was far beyond the normal irritation his actions the past few days would warrant.

Sulu’s back hit the closed door and a second later Jameson was on him, locking the door behind him and grabbing him by the collar to pull him mere inches away.

“I can’t believe you’ve been talking behind my back, again! You ungrateful little bitch!” Jameson shouted, shaking Hikaru in his fury.

“What?” Hikaru questioned breathlessly, trying his best to lean away from the Alpha, though he had nowhere to go. “I- I haven’t, I swear, I-“

Sulu yelped in pain as Jameson cut him off with a backhand to his face, holding him upright. A fist followed up to his stomach, leaving Sulu gasping for breath as Jameson ranted angrily in his face.

“I get you the post of chief helmsman on the federation’s flag ship and you still can’t stop causing me problems! I always knew Omegas only ever got so far in the fleet by fucking their way up the ladder, so I shouldn’t be surprised that you’re here doing the same thing. What, the minute you found yourself a higher-ranking alpha, you spread yourself out for him so you can ride him to the next promotion?”

“N-no, Alpha, I-“ Hikaru struggled to get the words out, Jameson had tightened his hold to the point of cutting off his air. Sulu was also struggling to keep his feet under him as Jameson began dragging him away from the door, towards the center of the room.

“Shut up!” Jameson yelled, punctuation the order with another blow. “If I’d have known just how much of a little cock slut you were, I might now have been so reluctant to share you. You know how many Alpha’s and Beta’s alike wanted to have just an hour with you? Omega’s are so rare there are maybe twenty of them in the entire fleet, everyone wants a piece. I protect you and this is the thanks I get?!”

Every word Hikaru tried to utter in protest, any defense he might have made, was cut off by a slap, a punch, a kick. He couldn’t think of anything he’d done that could have prompted this, but Alpha wasn’t going to listen.

Jameson shoved Sulu flat onto the floor, kneeling on top of him to pin him in place. “I thought I’d taught you better, taught you some respect. I’m going to make sure you don’t forget the lesson this time.”

~~~

It might have been hours, minutes, days. Hikaru lost track of time in a world of pain. It was nearly as bad as the one time Sulu had ignored Jameson’s summons on the Indiana. He’d beaten Hikaru completely unconscious, the Omega waking later with half healed injuries, still on the floor in his quarters.

Jameson was well on his way to bringing the pilot to the same level of unconsciousness.

Hikaru was vaguely aware of a familiar sounding chirp, the noise seeming to come from far away. He fell on all fours as Jameson let go of him abruptly. The room was spinning around him, and he was irrationally focused on the drops of red that were appearing on the floor under him.

Above him, Jameson was speaking and Hikaru tuned into the conversation in time to hear Jameson say, “yes, sir. I’m on my way.”

Sulu closed his eyes, letting out a relieved huff of breath. If Alpha was being called away, then this nightmare was finally over. He started to stand as Jameson began to turn away.

“I’m nowhere near done with you.” Jameson snarled, quickly turning back and kicking Sulu back down and pressing a foot into the pilot’s back. “You stay here. I have to go clean up your mess, and when I get back _maybe_ I’ll let you apologize like a proper Omega.”

Hikaru lay on the floor, breathless and shaking, as Jameson walked to and fro for a moment. So this was going to be the end of this part of the punishment for whatever he’d done. Given Alpha’s words, the next part would be more intimate and far less preferable to Hikaru. He’d rather the Alpha just beat him unconscious again. Or hell, even killing him would be preferable to waiting in misery for Jameson to come back and use him like that. It was always worse when Alpha was angry.

He cringed when the Alpha strode toward him again, knowing what was coming, but unable to make his body move. He yelped in pain as Jameson kicked him, snapping out an order. “Stay. Here.”

Sulu forced himself to nod, flinching as Jameson stepped over him and finally, thankfully, left him alone. After a long moment, he pushed himself to his knees. He lifted a hand, wiping some blood from the cut above his eye. He knew he must look like hell, but he didn’t know what to do. Alpha had said to stay here, and he couldn’t get his body to move.

He just sat there, staring dully at the floor.


	18. Time's Up

Scotty walked a slow pace down the corridor, hands folded casually behind him as he moseyed along. He’d done the same every evening the past few days and had been happy to never once see their chief pilot wandering back to his quarters in a daze in that time.

After he and Chekov had spoken with McCoy, and then with Kirk, they’d both been told to keep an eye on the two crewmen in question. McCoy and Kirk had both promised they would be looking into the situation on their end, but in the meantime having more eyes watching for any problems was the only way to proceed. Kirk had consulted McCoy privately about the issue, but neither Scotty nor Chekov had been privy to that short conversation.

All Scotty could gather from it was what Kirk told them after; confrontation could make things worse, just continue, as usual for the moment, and rest assured _something_ was being done.

So that’s what Scotty was doing. Just casually walking along the corridor, business as usual. If he happened to wander down the crew quarters where Jameson’s room was located, possibly finding and walking with Hikaru and maybe getting a hint of any kind from the pilot, well… that was simply a coincidence.

He felt a jolt of unease and hope as, right on time, the door to Lt Jameson’s quarters swooshed open. Unease because Hikaru _never_ looked good walking out of his bonded alpha’s quarters. Hope because he was ever optimistic that maybe _this_ time, Sulu would reach out and give him some hint that he wanted help. Anything concrete that Jim could act on immediately.

He was not, however, expecting the Alpha to be the one striding out of the room.

Scotty frowned, coming to a halt. Jameson appeared to be distracted, rubbing one hand over the other absently. He didn’t see Scotty, simply turned and began walking the opposite direction purposefully.

This was certainly different, and Scotty had a bad feeling about it. He’d seen mister Sulu headed this direction nary two hour ago (thus the reason he’d been so casually walking this way), yet here was the pilot’s “bonded” alpha, storming away.

They’d all done the best they could to keep the two of them separated until the whole issue had been looked into, but he supposed they were lucky it had worked this long. There was bound to be some overlap of downtime, and it seemed this was one of those times.

Scotty waited for a long moment, wanting to be certain the man was actually gone, before he sauntered over to Jameson’s quarters. He was going to get to the bottom of this, one way or another, today.

As he expected, the room was locked. Not that this was a problem for him. He was senior staff, head of engineering, and had his own override codes. And even if he hadn’t, getting into a locked room was hardly a challenge.

Scotty entered the room with a growing feeling of trepidation. It felt dark, for all that the room was as brightly lit as any standard quarters on the ship. Maybe it was the heavy scent in the air, detectible to even his dull senses, maybe it was the things he knew, or maybe it was a mix of bot. Either way, the room felt dark.

It was clean, walking in. There was a neatly kept desk and chair, clean floor covered in the standard grey carpeting. A few feet from the door into the main living quarters was were that normalcy ended.

The blood was the first clue, the source of which was currently on his knees by the couch. Scotty almost couldn’t believe what he was seeing, didn’t want to believe it. Sure, he’d suspected everything wasn’t as it should be, that something was going on, but this? He’d let himself believe it was a case of cruel neglect, a little rough treatment, but this?

Hikaru was clearly beaten, had injuries that were still bleeding for gods sakes, and was sitting near motionless on his knees, eyes glued to the floor.

Now, Scotty knew everyone had their kinks, and far be it from him to judge, but everything about this was wrong. No matter what arrangement the two of them had, Scotty had yet to hear of any Omega that liked to be left alone, shivering and bleeding, kneeling on an Alpha’s living room floor.

And no self-respecting Alpha should let it get to this point in the first place.

Scotty moved towards Hikaru slowly, not at all reassured by how the man didn’t so much as glance up in his direction. He stopped just out of arms reach of Sulu, squatting down to be on the same level as the other. He looked Sulu over appraisingly, frown deepening at the condition the Omega was in.

“You shouldn’t be here.” Hikaru said quietly, not looking up.

Scotty’s head cocked to the side in surprise, not having expected Sulu to speak. He’d never said word one all those times he walked with the pilot down the corridor, so it hadn’t occurred to Scotty that Sulu would be the one to break the silence.

Scotty lifted one eyebrow, shaking his head in disagreement. “Laddie, I think this is bloody well _exactly_ where I should be.”

“N-no, you can’t. You have to go before-“ Sulu told him desperately.

“I’m not going anywhere.” Scotty interrupted him, tone decisive as he began inching closer.

“I don’t- I –” Hikaru let out a breathless fearful sound as Scotty reached for him, curling in on himself.

“It’s alright, lad. I’m not gonna hurt you. I want to help.” Scotty said gently, placing his hand on Sulu’s shoulder. “You’re hurt, and ya shouldna be on your own.”

“I’m… I’m fine.” Sulu forced out, pulling back from Scotty’s touch. He struggled to his feet, stepping back unsteadily when Scotty moved as if to help. “I’m fine.” He insisted more resolutely.

Scotty frowned, standing as well. “Lad…” He trailed of when Sulu shook his head.

Sulu tried to clear his head, looking around for something to fix the mess that was himself. It was habit at this point, to at least try and keep up appearances around the beta crew. He was afraid to think what would happen if, and honestly at this point it wasn’t even an ‘if’, Scotty saw through his façade.

Really all he wanted to do right now was go back to his own quarters. Where he had painkiller, a dermal regen, and could take a shower and sleep.

“Hikaru.”

Sulu jerked slightly, having zoned out for a moment, eyes flickering up to meet Scotty’s. He couldn’t hold the other man’s gaze, instead looked back at the floor. “There’s nothing you can do.” Hikaru spoke, nearly inaudible.

He moved haltingly over to the replicator, getting some water and a towel. Carefully, he began to get rid of the worst of the blood. He was glad Jameson hadn’t cared to make him strip, the mere thought of the humiliation of Scotty seeing him like _that_ was bad enough. “You should just go.”

“I told ya, I’m not leavin ya.” Scotty admonished, though he kept his tone gentle. “And I think you’ll find there’s a hell of a lot I can do. Now, c’mon. We should get you to sickbay.”

“No!” Hikaru yelped, jerking upright and turning around quickly to face Scotty. It wasn’t the worst he’d ever gotten from Jameson, though it was by no means the typical ‘corrections’ the Alpha usually meted out to him. He schooled his voice to a calmer tone before speaking again. “I mean, no. No, I’m fine. This… this is nothing.”

Scotty lifted a disapproving eyebrow, gaze turning pointedly to where Sulu had put a hand on the wall to steady himself. “You are nowhere near fine. Or had you forgotten?” Scotty quipped, turning to sweep an arm toward where he’d first found Sulu kneeling, and the blots of red staining the floor.

Hikaru grimaced, looking away. He couldn’t come up with an argument, wasn’t sure he wanted to, but he was afraid what agreeing would mean.

Scotty let the silence stretch for a long moment, hoping the pilot would speak up, say something. Unfortunately, Sulu only stared at the floor in silence. Scotty sighed, speaking up again in hopes of prompting something out of Hikaru.

“Alright then. If you tell me this here, is what you want, and you’re fine with and don’t want any help, then I’ll leave ya to it.” Scotty began. It was a bald-faced lie, he would never just let this drop. The expression on Sulu’s face when he’d found him just a few minutes ago had told him all he needed to know. Worse still, it was a man under his department that was responsible for it, which in Scotty’s mind, made him partial responsible.

Scotty continued speaking once Hikaru had looked up and met his gaze. “But I’m tellin ya, I _can_ help. And I will. If you’ll let me.”

Hikaru hesitated, wanting to believe him, but he wasn’t sure what difference it would make in the end. He was an Omega. Biologically, he _had_ to be around an Alpha with some frequency to live.

He was stuck with Jameson, Bonded to him. He didn’t know what would happen if they took him away from the Alpha, how that situation would be resolved. From what little he’d researched on it, the process of breaking that wasn’t fun.

And even if they did, would this would thing just start over? There were three other Alpha’s on this ship, he didn’t love the idea of being passed from one to the next, moved through Starfleet at the whim of someone else.

But Sulu knew that wasn’t right. A part of him knew it, but everything was all so jumbled and confused in his head. The pounding headache and various other aches and pains, as well as the drop he was going though, didn’t help matters much at all.

“I… I don’t-“ Hikaru struggled for words, wrestling with what he’d learned at the academy and school before that versus what he’d learned from hands on experience the past two years. He stopped, interrupted by the soft chirp of the comm. He flinched, body automatically moving to answer the call.

It was his personal comm, and he found it on the floor near the door. It must have fallen there when he’d arrived, and Jameson had gotten his hands on him. His hands were shaking as he answered, terrified it was Jameson calling for him to come to him. Whatever the Alpha would say, wouldn’t be something Sulu wanted Scotty to be witness to.

It was Kirk’s voice, not Jameson’s, that came out and Hikaru’s shoulders sagged in relief.

“Lt. Sulu, report to conference room E on deck 17.”

Hikaru let out a short breath, trying to calm himself before responding. “Yes, sir. On my way.”

Slowly, Sulu looked over at Scotty with a helpless look. “Sorry. I have to go.”

Scotty grit his teeth in frustration, hands tightening as Hikaru turned and left without another word. Jim had called the pilot off to some meeting and he damn well better be dealing with the situation. This had already gone too far and for far too long, Scotty had half a mind to deal with it himself. In whatever way necessary. And he knew a certain Russian who would be more than happy to help.


	19. Changes

Sulu walked slow and careful down the corridor, taking his time in order to get his thoughts in line. He couldn’t fathom what the captain wanted, but maybe that was a good thing. He’d thought he’d known what Jameson would be upset about and he’d been completely wrong about that.

At least whatever the captain wanted couldn’t be any worse than what was in store for him later. Captain’s orders or not, Hikaru knew Jameson wasn’t going to like that he’d disobeyed him. Even if he’d had no choice in the matter, he couldn’t very well tell Kirk no, Jameson would still take it out on him.

Maybe he would get lucky, maybe there would be some new mission, something that would take him off this ship, away from Jameson. Just for a few days, because as much as he hated his life right now, he loved being the pilot of the Enterprise. And he’d had a taste of being friends with Chekov again and that, more than anything, was enough to keep his feet moving and clear his head.

He paused at the door to the conference room, taking in a deep breath. Once he was as calm as he would ever be, and had made sure to school his expression into the neutral professionalism he wore on shift, he opened the door and walked in.

Hikaru froze as he stepped into the room, eyes going wide and his stomach dropping straight through the floor. Alpha was seated at a table, had glanced back at him when he’d entered the room, and Captain Kirk, Doctor McCoy, and Commander Spock were all sitting at the table with him.

Shit shit shit shit shit. What had he done? Gone were any daydream of some new mission. Even if this was one, he would rather not go with Alpha. Not when Jameson was still so angry with him.  
No, it had to be something he had done.

His mind raced in a panic as he mechanically moved forward. What the hell could he possibly have done to warrant all four of the Alpha’s on board to be in one place together? He still wasn’t completely clear on why Jameson was so pissed off at him, much less why the captain would have called him here too.

Jameson was wearing a supremely annoyed look and the other three each had an expression so carefully neutral that Sulu was positive he’d have been able to catch a scent of anger even from the Vulcan if he’d really tried. There was a vacant seat beside of, but not extremely near to, Jameson that was obviously meant for Hikaru.

He still hesitated for a moment, a part of him waiting for his Alpha to click his fingers and issue an order as to where he wanted him. Nothing was forthcoming, however, so Sulu shakily sat down, eyes glued down to the table. He was well aware of how he looked, he hadn’t had any time to deal with the fresh cuts and bruises on his face, much less anything else.

“I told you it was just gonna stress him out, sir.” Jameson sighed, tone practiced. “But now that he’s here, what is it you wanted to speak with him about?”

Hikaru swallowed thickly, heard beating painfully in his chest. Annoyed had not been the correct word, Jameson was still every bit as furious as he had been earlier. Arguably more so, now that he had to deal with whatever this situation was. His stomach twisted, knowing that once this little meeting was over, it was going to be some time before Jameson was through with him.

Sulu kept his breath carefully controlled, tried to keep an air of calm, but he knew he probably was letting off some scent of distress and fear. Alpha sat back in a relaxed pose, as if he had no worries or cares in the world. It was almost enough to fool Sulu, though he knew the fury that lay underneath.

The others, however, were tense, even the Commander seemed to be on the edge of his seat. When the captain spoke, his attention was directed at Sulu.

“I wanted to speak to the both of you about some concerns. As you know, it is a captain’s duty to look after the welfare of the crew. And so, I have some concerns about you, Lt. Sulu.” Kirk began, tone formal but held a note underneath that Hikaru couldn’t quite identify.

Sulu tilted his head slightly in inquiry, taking in a slow breath and carefully keeping control of his voice when he spoke. “Yes, sir?”

“Both myself and doctor McCoy have noticed some… concerning behaviors, and a few others have come forward with concerns as well. Lt Jameson here has already answered some of our questions, but I wanted to ask you all the same.” Kirk continued. “Most concerning are your injuries, and the distance you keep from the other members of the crew.”

“Like I said, that’s just how we are. It doesn’t affect his work.” Jameson spoke up, leaning forward slightly. “I take care of him, and he’s fine with it.”

“Yes, you’ve said.” Kirk stated dryly, giving Jameson a look before turning his attention back to Hikaru. “But I’m asking you. This isn’t about whether something affects your duties, it’s about your health. Physically and mentally. Are you fine with it? Do you want to be with Jameson?”

Sulu couldn’t bring himself to look up, certain that the question was a test. This could only end in one of two ways. He could say yes, lie and please his Alpha. That might even please Alpha enough that he might forgo any further beating he had in mind for whatever it was that had pissed him off in the first place. Or he could tell the truth, say no. Alpha would kill him, would be so furious.

To make matters all the more complicated, Sulu doubted whether or not Kirk would intercede. On the Indiana, the Beta captain and CMO had been adamantly against hearing his side of things. Hikaru highly doubted that the three other Alpha’s in this room would take the side of the sole Omega, especially against one of their own.

Except… Scotty had wanted to help. A beta he barely knew, had barely spoken with, wanted to help. Had promised he would, if only Hikaru would ask.

It was a slim hope, a small chance that maybe, just maybe, this was a way out. He was under no illusions, he knew he would simply be trading one Alpha for another, that was simple biology. But maybe Kirk wouldn’t be so _impossible_ to please. And from what Sulu had seen, Kirk seemed to like Chekov, to be friends with him, so maybe he wouldn’t mind so much if Hikaru hung around the Russian. Maybe he could have friends again without suffering an Alpha’s angry jealousy.

If nothing else, then maybe this would be the final straw that drove Alpha to actually killing him.

Still staring down at the table, hands clenched in tight fists over his knees, Hikaru took a slow breath. He licked his lip nervously as he opened his mouth to answer.

“No.”

Such a simple word, spoken so quietly, but sounding so loud and resounding in the dead silent room. Hikaru could feel the rage building in his Alpha seated beside him. He could scent it, knew without looking that Jameson was rigid with fury.

“Don’t be so coy.” Jameson stated, voice silky smooth as he attempted to explain. “He likes to stir up things, be dramatic. Did it all the time at our last post.”

Hikaru shuddered at the tone. That was the voice that meant pain. That was the voice that didn’t stop, that raged and hurt and humiliated, and enjoyed it the entire time. Sulu ducked his head, trembling as the scent of anger filled the room, coming from all of the Alpha’s now. He was terrified as to what this meant for him, what the consequences of this would be.

“Doctor McCoy, if you would?” Captain Kirk spoke evenly, but Sulu could detect the undercurrents of fury.

Hikaru didn’t dare look up, shoulders hitching defensively as there was the squeak of a chair and then footsteps approaching him. He was already sinking down, mind attempting to distance itself from the anticipated pain to come.

He was too far down to flinch at the surprisingly gentle hand that touched his face. Carefully, McCoy forced him to look up and Sulu hesitantly made eye contact with the Alpha. The doctor’s expression was carefully neutral, as was his tone when he spoke. “Come with me, Mister Sulu.”

Hikaru nodded, looking away submissively and hoping that his nonverbal response wouldn’t be cause for any additional punishment. He didn’t think he’d be able to get an acceptable ‘yes sir’ out of his throat right now, and he was afraid of being slapped for trying and failing and afraid of then being punished for it later anyway. At least this way, there would be one less blow.

For a moment, when McCoy dropped his hand and stepped back, Sulu thought he was going to be struck anyway. He winced in anticipation, but there was nothing. McCoy just stood there, waiting.

Still shaking, Hikaru hurried to stand up, desperate to prove his willingness to obey. When McCoy turned and started walking with a gentle command of “follow me,” Hikaru nearly tripped over himself to do as he was told. He needed to make up for before, and this was such a simple instruction to follow.

Despite his fear of what was in store for him, Sulu was glad to leave to room. One Alpha was better than four of them. Besides, getting away from the room that was choking with Alpha fury and rage would make it easier for him to think. If he could climb his way up, clear his head, he might stand some chance at pleasing this Alpha enough to hopefully keep things from getting too painful.

Hikaru kept a step behind McCoy as they walked down the corridor, chest tight with a tense fear. The Alpha in front of him was tense as well, but seemed to be unwinding the further they got from the meeting room. Sulu hoped it wasn’t just his imagination that the angry scent from the Alpha was fading.

By the time they reached medbay, McCoy seemed extremely annoyed rather than furious to Sulu. Not that it made it any easier following the CMO into one of the private rooms.

“Go on, have a seat.” McCoy stated, waving a hand toward the biobed. “I’ll deal with the fresh injuries now. For the rest, all I got to go on right now is some half scans, and I ain’t gonna try and treat you with just that.”

Wordlessly, without real thought, Sulu obeyed. He’d forgotten until now the cuts on his face. He’d cleaned off the blood before he’d had to go to the conference room, but otherwise he hadn’t had time to do anything else. No wonder Kirk had been so pointedly asking question.

“Right…” McCoy muttered a few minutes later, frowning at the readout before looking over at Sulu.

“I’ve recorded the damage, both recent and older, as evidence, and the dermal regen will take care of most of this damage. I got this salve to take care of the rest of the welts and bruising.” McCoy explained before setting to work treating his patient.


End file.
